From Rs 150 to Rs 180, Onion Prices Continue to Water Eyes; Oppn Protests Across India

Hyderabad/New Delhi: Continuing to water eyes across India, the onion prices soared to Rs 150 per kg in Hyderabad on Thursday, while it is being sold between Rs 120 and 180 in Tamil Nadu's Madurai.

"Onion rates have never been so high. Poor and middle-class people are suffering a lot due to price rice. Telangana government should take a steps to regulate the rates or they should provide onion on subsidy price," said Mohan Rao, a resident of Hyderabad, told News18.

The wholesale dealers have been selling the onion for Rs 15,000 per 100 kg and the lowest at Rs 6,000 in Hyderabad, reports said.

Onion traders in Tamil Nadu said that customers who were buying the kitchen staple for Rs 2 earlier, have to now shell out Rs 5. "Onion prices have shot up. Customers who were buying 5 kg are now only buying 2 kg. We are selling good quality onions for Rs 180/kg. Lower quality onion is priced between Rs 120-130/kg," Shanmuga Priyan, an onion trader, said.

In West Bengal, the onion prices have been hovering between Rs 100 and Rs 120 over the past few days.

A member of the state task force on vegetables earlier said the situation has come to this pass because of the heavy rains in Nashik which resulted in a large quantity of the bulb rotting following water seepage.

Maharashtra supplies about 70,000 tones of onion to Bengal every month, out of the state's total requirement of one lakh tonnes. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh supply the rest. Retail sellers said they were buying onion in small amounts due to the skyrocketing prices.

The rising prices have also been raised in the Parliament, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying that the government has taken several steps to check rising prices of onion include ban on exports, imposition of stock limit, import and transfer of onion from surplus to deficit area.

Opposition has been holding protests across the country. While Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Adhir Chowdhury, Gaurav Gogoi and others protested at the Parliament premises, local leaders of the grand old party held agitation in Uttar Pradesh.

Carrying photographs of onions, Congress leaders staged a demonstration at the district collectorate in various UP districts and shouted slogans against the price rise.

(With inputs from IANS, ANI and Medabayani Balakrishna in Hyderabad)