Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut slammed the Maharashtra government over onion prices and said “This government has no right to be in power.”
“Onion is the food of Poor. Farmers eat onion with roti which we call ‘bhakri’. Farmers of Maharashtra are not able to buy onions. People cannot eat onions, so this government has no right to be in power. This is not Maharashtra’s culture,” Sanjay Raut said.
Recently, the Central government imposed a 40 per cent export duty on the kitchen staple which prompted onion farmers in the state to stage a protest in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on Monday.
A notification issued by the Finance Ministry on August 19 stated that they have imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions till December 31, 2023.
“Government imposes 40 per cent duty on onion exports till December 31,” the Ministry stated.
The export duty comes amid reports that onion prices are likely to rise in September.
Earlier on August 11, the central government started releasing the staple vegetable from its buffer stock.
The central government had earlier decided it will maintain 3 lakh tonne of onions in the 2023-24 season as buffer stock. In 2022-23, the government maintained 2.51 lakh tonne onion as buffer stock.
Buffer stock is maintained to meet any exigencies and for price stabilization, if rates go up significantly during the lean supply season.
The centre has also decided to procure and additional 2 Lakh tonne of onions from Maharashtra at a price of Rs 2410 per quintal.
The procurement of the additional onion stock began today and the announcement was made at a meeting of Maharashtra Agirculture Minister Dhananjay Munde and Union Commerce Miniser Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Tuesday
