Onions cost 8 crore to govt

Officials opine that the cost will be double by month-end

Hyderabad: It seems the efforts to supply onions at a subsidised rate are costing dear to the Telangana government. According to official sources, the subsidised onions cost the State government Rs 8 crore within a span of just one month. By all probability, this will get doubled by the end of September, before the second crop arrives in the beginning of October.

The State government, through its various centres including Rythu Bazaars and Mana Kuragayalu outlets spread across 10 districts, has so far sold 3,037 tonnes of onions starting from August 5, spending Rs 14 crore. With Rs 6 crore credited from the consumers at these centres being operated by the Agriculture Marketing Department, the additional burden on the government is Rs 8 crore as part of its welfare initiative. According to officials, the government began groundwork and procured 3,142 tonnes of onions by August 8.

In Hyderabad, the largest consumer base with 44 centres spread across the city, including 11 Rythu Bazaars and 33 Mana Kuragayalu outlets, 1,403 tonnes of onions were sold. Other subsidised centres in districts like Warangal (9), Karimnagar (6), Khammam (6), Mahbubnagar (5), Nalgonda (5), Adilabad (5), Nizamabad (3), Medak (3) and Ranga Reddy (3) have sold the rest of the stocks under Rs 20-per-kg scheme. “We kept at least 100 to 150 tonnes under buffer, for dispatching the stock under emergency situations,” said Y J Padma Harsha, Deputy Director of Marketing, Agriculture Market Committee, Bowenpally.

Telangana is the second State after Delhi to approach Small Farmers Agriculture-Business Consortium (SFAC), the consultant agency under the Central government for intervention. By referring to the Price Stabilisation Fund, which has a corpus of Rs 500 crore earmarked for supporting market intervention, the State government sent the proposal to the Centre.

It had proposed Rs 18 crore for a period of three months. For which, the Centre has released Rs 9.5 crore as part of its 50 per cent contribution. Even though Kurnool is known as the biggest producer of onion in both the Telugu states, the government, after assessing the price and quality, chose Nasik in Maharashtra for onion procurement.

Keeping in view the hurdles in procuring the consignments from other States, the Telangana government procured the onions from the onion market in Malakpet in the beginning. While 60 per cent was from Maharashtra, the remaining was from from Malakpet and from other traders working at Bowenpally Agriculture Market Yard.

Given the fact that the Central government is importing 10,000 tonnes of onion from Afghanistan, Egypt, China and Pakistan, the officials believe that the prices will come down by the beginning of October. “The controlled exports, release of hoardings and imports will surely help bring down the prices by October first week,” adds the official.

By:Md Nizamuddin