PUNE, Nov 4: Just when one thought it could rise no further, the price of onions shot up by Rs 2 a kilo in the wholesale market today with farmers from Purandar, Baramati, Indapur and Khed outsmarting Congress workers by not sending their trucks to the city. The crop was instead sold at the Chakhan market and Hubli in Karnataka.The Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation did not buy onions this morning under threat from Congress workers that they would not let the trucks leave Pune, even as the Pune City Congress Committee issued press releases notifying a decision to intensify their agitation. The committee has decided to gherao all ministers who will be visiting Pune to press for their demand to make onions available at Pune at the same prices at which the Government is distributing it in Mumbai through ration shops.The highest rate for onions touched Rs 270 for 10 kg today with onions available at Rs 27 a kg in city markets compared to Rs 25 a kg yesterday. Instead of the 80 trucks of onion that come to the market everyday, only 40 trucks arrived this morning with 8,000 bags of onions.The trucks that were coming in from Karnataka and Hubli also did not enter the city, said Rajan Kachi, chief administrator, Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee. The daily consumption in the city is 2,000 bags of onion, explained Kachi, the rest is sent to other places like Mumbai, Dharwad, Thane, Nashik, Delhi and Jalgaon.
