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Govt puts onions in essentials list 'to check pre-poll price-rise'

The Cabinet Committee on Prices at its meeting held in New Delhi today has decided to include onion as an essential item under the Essential Commodities Act , 1955.

This decision was taken to stabilise prices of onion in the domestic market in this the lean period.

It was also decided to import pulses to check prices in the domestic market.

The first consignment of around ten to twelve thousand tonnes of pulses was expected to arrive in a few weeks.

The crop prospect of pulses is good for the kharif season.

Bringing the pungent vegetable under the essential commodities category means the enforcement agencies of state governments can raid and check onion godowns, an official spokesperson told reporters after the CCP, which met this evening under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The CCP, which also reviewed the price situation, expressed satisfaction over the price behaviour of almost all daily consuming commodities. However, a minor rise was noticed in case of pulses since the last CCP meeting.

The CCP noted that production of various essential commodities in the country was much better this year including that of onion.

The onion production was expected to be around 4.7 million tonnes this year against 3.6 million tonnes last year.

A sharp drop in onion production last year led to steep rise in the prices in the open market. Prices in October 1998 rose to a dizzy high of more than Rs 60 a kilo in the Delhi market.

The spokesperson said that declaring the onion as an essential commodity would also prevent hoarding of this commodity as under the provision of the act, hoarders can be prosecuted and jailed up to seven years.

The CCP was informed that the pulses production in the current year is expected to be around 15.3 million tonnes against 13.1 million tonnes last year.

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