Decision on onion import soon

The state government should have acted immediately after the Centre granted permission to include onions under the Open General Licence OGL category two weeks ago, Desai said. 8220;The delay is proving costly to consumers, as there8217;s no stock of old onions in the market. Mumbai alone requires 1,000 tonnes of onion daily,8221; he added.

Desai surmised that the government didn8217;t act because it felt private traders would import onionsthemselves under OGL, but they didn8217;t. He said 15,000 tonnes would help tide over the crisis for a month and give time for a fresh crop of onions to grow.

Two weeks ago, the state had sought the Centre8217;s permission to waive import duty, so that it could import 10,000 tonnes of onion from Iran. But the state government has said it hasn8217;t received any reply yet. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Ramdas Kadam informed the state plans to import onions at the rate of Rs 13 per kilo and sell them at a subsidised rate of Rs 10 per kilo. He said the state had banned exports of potatoes on Monday because a shortage was anticipated.