Timely action would have controlled prices

CHANDIGARH, Oct 28: Various political leaders in the City have blamed the BJP government for the price-rise, especially that of onions, e...

CHANDIGARH, Oct 28: Various political leaders in the City have blamed the BJP government for the price-rise, especially that of onions, even though the local BJP leader have defended their government saying the rise in prices is due to scarcity.

Opposition leaders, however, feel that had the BJP government acted at the right time, the situation could have been avoided. They point to the Delhi government8217;s intervention to make onions available at lower rates through Super Bazaars and fair price shops and urge the local Administration8217;s intervention to follow suit.

Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee president Venod Sharma, believes quot;the government slept over the issue; had it acted at the right time, the situation could not have been that bad.quot; He also suspects quot;a created scarcity to benefit a handful of people with whom the BJP government is in collusion.quot; He wants the local Administration take a cue from the Delhi government and try to help the public.

Former CTCC chief Pawan Kumar Bansal also speaks of quot;utter failurequot; of the BJP government: quot;While they kept celebrating the nuclear blasts, the sanctions that followed led to interest rate hike which ultimately led to price rise.quot; He alleges that the government permitted a cartel to take over the onion market and sees quot;not only criminal negligence, but also collusion on the government8217;s partquot;.

quot;The Chandigarh Administration must regulate onion prices and take action against onion hoarders,quot; demands Samajwadi Janata Party president Devinder Singh Babla. quot;Onions are available in abundance,quot; he says, quot;it8217;s hoarding that has driven up pricesquot;.

The Janata Dal president Surinder Bhardwaj also accused the BJP for the onion price hike and for quot;helpingquot; traders. He also called upon the people to boycott the use of onions. Bahujan Samaj Party president M R Dhiman, has accused the BJP of being a quot;trader partyquot; and of supporting the traders8217; cause. He further accused the BJP of helping the hoarders of onions, due to which the prices have sky-rocketed. He added that there was no scarcity of onions as it is available for any quantity, but at a higher price. quot;My party is preparing to raid a few stores to see that the guilty are booked, since the Administration is sleeping over the matterquot;.

Communist Party of India Marxist local unit secretary, Inderjit Singh Grewal, has also accused the BJP of helping the traders in hoarding onions, due to which the prices have risen. The BJP government has also not taken any steps to control its prices and import the same to help reduce the same.

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Meanwhile, president of the local unit of the BJP, Dharam Paul Gupta, denied a BJP hand in the onion crisis. quot;People should stop eating onions and wait for prices to come down. All parties should come together on this issue and not seek to apportion blame. No onions are produced in the vicinity of Chandigarh; all come from outside, hence the price varies.quot; He ruled out any hoarding.