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Onion crisis will persist till January, say traders

Pradeep Bagchi in New Delhi

As the government blames the weather for the onion crisis and the trader accuses the government of misleading people, the only loser is the buyer. For domestic supply lines are expected to be restored only in January 1999.

Prices of onion have touched Rs 60 per kilogram in northern parts of the country including the national capital after untimely rains destroyed the crop in many prime-growing areas.

Prices of potatoes are also on the rise and the situation is not likely to stabilise till December.

Wholesale dealers at New Delhi's Azadpur Sabzi Mandi see no respite for the people from the spiralling prices of these two vegetables in the next couple of months.

Criticising the Delhi government for ''misleading'' the people, general secretary of the Potato and Onion Merchants' Association Rajinder Sharma said, ''The people should be told the truth instead be being fed with false hope.''

Onion supplies to Delhi are from Khairtal and Ajmer in Rajasthan while small quantities are supplied from Nashik in Maharashtra, the region which grows the crop all through the year and is the mainstay for the domestic needs.

Denying hoarding, trader Vinod Chauhan said, ''Around this time, we used to get 200-250 truckloads every day. Now there are 25 loads. We are also losing heavily.'' The supply is about 20 per cent of Delhi's total demand of 600-700 tonnes per day.

The normal supply from Nashik and Bhavnagar in Gujarat is expected to resume only by January, he said. Bulk of the quantities picked up at the Mandi by the government agencies is being re-routed to the open market, he alleged. ''Government should distribute onions through the ration shops,'' he opined.

''The proposed imports are unlikely to ease the situation due to distribution snags,'' echoed another trader.

Had the government stopped export of onions four months back, shortage would have been manageable, he said.

However, POMA president Trilok Chand Sharma described the ban on export of onions and potatoes as an ''eyewash''. He said: ''Potatoes were not being exported, nor were the onions after the crisis surfaced.''

He attributed the present potato shortage to non-arrival of the early crop from Hoshiarpur in Punjab. ''Crop failure at one place has led to a cascading effect. Only 20 per cent of the crop could be saved due to unseasonal rains,'' he said.

''In the absence of fresh stocks from Punjab, the cold storage stocks from Karnataka are feeding the capital's market. This will also lead to shortage in Karnataka and November will see problems from all quarters,'' he said adding resowing has started in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and the situation will improve only after a couple of months.

At present, 80 kg sacks of potatoes, especially the graded variety from Karnataka, are commanding prices ranging between Rs 1200-1400 while the fresh stocks coming from Himachal Pradesh are selling at Rs 900-1,300. The cold storage stock is priced between Rs 750-1,000.

UNI