New Delhi,
On a day onion hit the Rs 80 a kg mark and tomatoes Rs 60-70 a kg in retail, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said “it was not in his hands” to bring down the prices of the essential vegetable.

“I have told the facts, it is not in my hands,” Paswan said to repeated queries on when he expected the onion prices to scale down.

Though later he said prices would cool down “within a week” with the arrival of fresh crop from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, his response was a telling statement on the government’s helplessness in controlling prices driven by market fundamentals of demand and supply.

Meanwhile, as per Paswan, onion production this year was expected to be lower since the area under cultivation had reduced to 1.90 lakh hectares in 2017-18 from 2.36 lakh hectares in 2016-17.

As far as the current situation is concerned, he said the government had taken several measures, such as procurement by agencies from Nashik (Maharashtra) and Alwar (Rajasthan) where the cost is lower, as well as imports.

“Once the supply from (late) kharif starts, prices will come down,” he said after a high-level meeting on increase in the prices of kitchen essentials with officials from ministries of agriculture and food and the Delhi Government.

Also recounting the measures taken by the Centre such as imposing the minimum export price of $850 a tonne and reducing the export quantum, he said outbound shipments reduced to 137 tonnes on November 18 from 4,150 tonnes on November 13.

And to curb hoarding, the stock limit on holding onion stock on traders has been extended till December-end.

Besides imports, the availability of onions is being improved in the country through direct sourcing of the crop from farmers for distribution in consuming areas, he said.

“We have requested Maharashtra Government to procure 10,000 tonnes on behalf of the Government of India for distribution in Delhi and other cities,” he added