Tamil Nadu sells onion at Rs 55 a kg through fair price shops

Move comes on backdrop of increasing onion prices in country

With the onion prices going higher up recently, the Tamil Nadu government has started selling onion at Rs 55 per kilogram through 'Pannai Pasumai Nugarvor Kadai', fair price shop launched by the state government.

While the government has stated that it would be selling onion at a lower price, the commodity is available in the open market at a price of up to Rs 70 per kilogram.

The price of onion has gone up in the recent past owing to its shortage in the market, affecting the consumers. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has asked the authorities to procure more onion and sell at reasonable rates less than market price through these stores.

The state government has taken steps to procure onion from Yashwanthpur of Karnataka and from Maharashtra and sell it through 42 fair price stores in and around Chennai at Rs 55 a kg. There are around 58 such stores working across the state.

In 2013, when onion price increased, the state government increased its procurement from Maharastra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and sold it a lower price through these stores.

The state government has already established a Price Stabilisation Fund to the tune of Rs 100 crore to help farmers and consumers to control the price increase. Last year money from this fund was used when the prices of dals, chilli, tamarind and gingelly oil.

The fair price shops were set up when the prices of vegetables increased in 2013, with a mission to control the price and to make sure farmers get good price for their produce and for the poor people to get quality vegetables in better price.