'Decision on Nafed's onion import tender on Oct 29'

Food minister exuded confidence that onion prices will fall, which has become a scoring point between political parties in the election battle

The government on Friday said it would decide on a tender for onion imports floated by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) on Tuesday.

Earlier, Nafed had floated a tender to import onions from Pakistan, Iran, China and Egypt.

Food Minister K V Thomas on Friday exuded confidence that due to imports, as well as increasing supply from domestic sources, onion prices would stabilise soon. “Onion prices will come down in the next 10 days. Traders should take legitimate margins and not loot consumers. Farmers should get reasonable prices and consumers should also get onions at affordable rates. State governments have been asked to take strong action against hoarders and a few states have already done so,” Thomas told reporters here.

On Thursday, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said onion prices would fall in two-three weeks. The issue of onion prices, which have soared to Rs 100/kg in some parts of the country, is crucial, especially ahead of the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh on November 11 and 19. The national capital has seen a war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on the matter.

“We need not be alarmed at the situation,” Thomas said, adding he had discussed the issue with the Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka governments.

 He said this year, onion production was better than last year and stressed the need to balance supplies of onions, potatoes and tomatoes through cold storage facilities.

The Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority has been asked to explore the possibility of storing onions grown in the rabi season to avert any crisis next year. “Nafed is prepared to procure onions during the plenty-season and supply to states during the lean season. Unfortunately, that has not worked. Nafed has very good cold storage facilities,” Thomas said.