Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal provides relief from soaring onion prices

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal provides relief from soaring onion prices; Delhiites now gettng onions at 23.90 rupees per kg

• Chief Minister flags off 70 mobile vans from the Delhi Secretariat
• *MLAs reach their constituencies with the mobile vans, onions being sold via 400 ration shops also

NEW DELHI: In a move to provide relief to residents of Delhi from the skyrocketing prices of onions, the Arvind Kejriwal government is now providing onions at Rs 23.90 per kilogram through mobile vans and fair price shops. 70 mobile vans and 400 fair price shops have been arranged to sell onions in the city.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off the mobile vans from the Delhi secretariat gate on Saturday. Besides the vans, onions are also being sold at 400 fair price shops. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that after first five days the procurement of the onion stock will be reviewed as per the requirement.

One person can get a maximum of five kilograms of onions in a day. The sale of onions will be held from 10 am to 5 pm. No identification proofs are required to purchase onions from the FPSs. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged the common people to be honest and avoid black-marketing of the vegetable.

While flagging off the mobile vans on Saturday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “The retail market in Delhi is selling the onions at Rs 70-80 kg. We do not want people of Delhi to suffer from these eye-watering prices of onions. So, we have decided to sell onions at Rs.23.90 per kg. One mobile van each will be taken by the MLAs to their respective constituencies to cover all the 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi,”

Officer Appointed to ensure quality control

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “We are directly putting into the market whatever has been procured from the center. Two Delhi government officials will visit Nagpur to examine the quality of onions and to ensure supply of good quality onions to Delhi,”

The Chief Minister said that the government is also keeping an eye on the hoarders and legal action will be taken against them.

Increase in mobile vans and FPSs if required

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that 70 mobile vans have been launched and 400 fair price shops have been selected to sell onions as per the requirement. In this way, onions will be made available at around five shops in one assembly. Based on the demand of onions per constituency, the government will comprehend the requirement of positioning more fair price shops and mobile vans in the city.

There was a sudden rise of Rs.10 per kg of onions in 10 days

Onions are currently available at Rs 60-80 per kg in the retail market in Delhi. The wholesale price of onion at Azadpur Mandi in Delhi has gone up to Rs 60 per kg, the highest since 2015. On the other hand, Asia’s largest onion market in Lasalgaon in Maharashtra is also selling the onions at Rs 50 per kg. The traders said that the stock of onions in the country is very low due to which supply of onions to the mandis is coming down. The price of onion is rising due to lower inflows than consumption.

“The Delhi government has started selling onions at Rs 23.90 per kg through 70 mobile vans and 400 fair price shops to relieve the people from rising prices of onions. We do not want these onions to bring tears to their eyes, while ensuring they do not have to empty their pockets because of the high prices,” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.