The Delhi Government on Monday directed agencies to take effective action against hoarders in the city to check rising tomato prices in the national Capital. Sold at throwaway prices till a few weeks ago, tomato is fast going out of the reach of common man as its prices in the retail market has shot up from Rs 20-30 per kg to Rs 50-60 .
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain held a meeting with the food commissioner and senior officers of the department in this regard. Officials from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), Mother Dairy, the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation and the agricultural produce market committee were also present at the meeting.
“Officers of Mother Dairy informed the minister that they have started market intervention with effect from Sunday. Mother Dairy has started selling loose tomatoes at Rs 40 per kg, and pre-packed tomato at Rs 50 per kg at the SAFAL stores,” the Government said in a statement.
The national capital receives a bulk of its tomatoes from hilly states during this period.
The Minister directed the agricultural produce market committee to convene a meeting of tomato wholesalers and ensure stable and sufficient supply of tomatoes, they said.
“Hussain also directed various agencies to take effective action against any hoarding activity. The participating agencies were of the view that the retail prices of tomato are likely to be stabilised soon,” it stated.
The retail prices of onion were also reviewed. It was informed that they are stable and NAFED has stocked sufficient quantities of onions and it is being released through Mother Dairy and Safal outlets daily to ensure stability.
Hussain directed the food and civil supplies commissioner to convene weekly meetings with stakeholder departments to ensure that prices of tomato and onion are stable and under control.
Recently,” the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry had asked the Delhi Government to exhort traders and logistic providers to increase the supply of tomatoes to the mandis to ensure immediate control of price rise.
In Delhi and NCR, vegetables have become costlier as supply from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was affected on heavy rain and flooding in these two States, respectively.
Taking note of rising prices of tomato, the Centre on Friday directed Mother Dairy to sell it at Rs 40 a kg from its Delhi outlet.
The major tomato and onion producing States Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra account for 91 per cent of the total production of the country.
Due to less rain in some places and floods in other places, the supply has been affected. Besides, drought like situation has damaged the tomato crops in the producing States.