NEW DELHI: On Friday, the government invoked the stock limit rules under the Essential Commodities Act for Onions as prices continued to rise in almost every city.
The rules came into force 31 days after Parliament passed amendments to the EC Law, which has a provision to invoke this clause in extraordinary price increase situations.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan said that while retailers can store a maximum of 2 tons of onion, wholesalers can store up to 25 tons at any given time. This restriction will be effective until December 31 to ensure that traders do not create artificial conditions to raise prices.
Onion prices increased in all cities with the sale of the key kitchen light bulb to a maximum of Rs 105 kg in Bengaluru and Rs 97 per kg in Mumbai. TOI had reported on Friday how onion prices had doubled in 28 cities in the past month and Bengaluru had witnessed a four-fold increase.
The average retail price change for onions across India as of October 21 compared to last year was 22.1%. Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said the states had hinted that the onion harvest would likely be around 36 lakh tonnes compared to the previous estimate of 43 lakh tonnes.
The secretary added that for the first time, the Center I had created a buffer stock of 1 lakh ton of onion and was releasing the stock in a calibrated manner.
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