Onion Price Rise: Odisha Govt To Act Tough On Unscrupulous Traders

Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar: Taking a stern note of the problems faced by people across Odisha due to rise in prices of onion and potato, Odisha government on Thursday ordered tough action against unscrupulous traders.

In a letter to all Collectors, the Food and Consumer Welfare Department has stated that the prices of onion have shown an increasing trend in the last few months. Some unscrupulous traders might resort to take advantage of the situation and may go for hoarding and create artificial scarcity in market, the letter highlighted.

The Collectors have been asked to ensure that raids are conducted on business premises to track the source price, wholesale and retail prices by verifying bills/vouchers and stock limits. The senior district administrative officials have been asked to take help of market intelligence and civil supply field officers for conducting raids on a regular basis till normalcy is restored.

Moreover, the State government has now decided to strictly enforce the Odisha Potato and Onion (Storage Control) Amendment Order, 2019 which restricts the maximum quantity that a wholesaler and retail trader can stock. As per the amendment, a wholesaler in Bhubaneswar can stock a maximum of 1,000 quintals of potato and 250 quintals of onion while the cap is 500 and 250 quintals, respectively for wholesalers in Cuttack, Rourkela, Berhampur and Sambalpur.

Wholesalers in other parts of the State can store a maximum of 300 quintals of potato and 150 quintals of onion.

A retail trader in Cuttack, Rourkela, Berhampur and Sambalpur can stock a maximum of 40 quintals of potato and 20 quintals of onion while the cap in other parts of the State for retailers is 15 quintals and 8 quintals for potato and onion, respectively.