The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for making Delhittes shed “onion tears” with 200 per cent increase in the price of the most essential commodity.
BJP’s CM candidate Harsh Vardhan said that if BJP came to power in the Capital, he will form a standing ‘Food Prices Commission’ to constantly monitor the mandis (vegetable markets). “This body will comprise experts from the consumer movement, agriculturists, agriculture statisticians and former administrators. It will be headed by a renowned expert and will report directly to the Chief Minister,” Vardhan said at a Press conference.
“The Standing Commission will alert the Government the moment there is a change in the price of a particular food item — be it rice, wheat, edible oil or onion — and for transparency’s sake, this information will be placed on its website. The Government will then feel the pressure to intervene by sending teams to the producing States to procure that food item directly and simultaneously take preventive steps against hoarding as well,” he added.
Pointing out the lapse on part of the Delhi Government to protect the interest of the people and “creating the crisis,” Harsh Vardhan said, “Hoarding is the main evil behind this crisis, and with the support of the city Government. There is a strong nexus between the Government and the hoarders and we will crush it.”
“Despite adequate rainfall and agricultural production, onions are insufficient to meet the demand. The Chief Minister is holding media, neighboring States and low production responsible for the unprecedented rise in the price of onions and vegetables and evading her responsibility,” said Harsh Vardhan at the briefing organised at the party’s office.
Blaming the Government for robbing the people off their hard-earned money, the party said that the prices of tomatoes, potatoes, brinjal, methi, torai, green peas, beans, cabbage, capsicum and other vegetables have increased by more than 100%. “The Government is sitting idle and people are being looted. Runaway food inflation affects food security,” said Vijay Goel, president of Delhi BJP.
Relying on data, Goel added that this year the production of onion has been more than its consumption. “This year 163.09 lakh tonnes of onion was produced in the country, whereas its consumption was only 144.96 lakh tonnes. Next year, the production of onions will be 179.399 lakh tonnes and consumption will be 151.77 lakh tonnes. In such a situation, the unprecedented rise in the price of onion is the result of wrong policies of the Government and hoarding,” said Goel.
“The Food Prices Commission will be done by professionals who would alert me whenever there is abnormal upward movement in the prices of an essential item. I will take emergency steps even before the emergency occurs,” he promised.
Attacking the UPA Government for sitting idle and turning a blind eye to the issue, Harsh Vardhan raised questions saying, “What has the UPA Government been doing since August when statistics on wholesale price inflation were reflecting a rise of 6.1 per cent over the previous year’sIJ Why didn’t Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Food Distribution Minister, KV Thomas take steps when by October it was clear that the vegetable price rise was 77 to 100 per centIJ Why didn’t Sheila Dikshit move to prevent hoarding in timeIJ They only began to react with weak excuses after onion prices began to climb by 200 per cent. What an absurd, non-performing Government we have!”
Also present at the Press conference leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra and former Delhi BJP President Vijendra Gupta, who sharply criticised the corrupt and negligent Government for its failure to make life in Delhi affordable for the people.
Promises’ list
Permanent ‘Food Prices Commission’ to be constituted within three months of coming to power. This body will not be affected by bureaucratic and political interference. It will report direct to the Chief Minister
The Chief Minister will be personally accountable for runaway increases in food prices because all the correspondence between the Food Prices Commission and himself would be visible online to the public
Government will send procurement teams to places in India to source cereals, vegetables and edible oil independent of the Food Corporation of India system
Movements of all food transporting trucks headed for Delhi and within Delhi will be monitored by GPS tracking. Police will swing into action every time there is a diversion from the stated route plan
Food inspectors to file report on daily basis from mandis and retail markets. These will be placed online