Finally,raids unleashed on onion traders

It has been reported that the government has ordered these raids to be carried out nationwide.

8220;The raids were conducted in Lucknow,Varanasi,Kanpur,Ghaziabad,Bareilly,Meerut and other places of the state at main dealers of onion8221;,a senior IT official said.

In Lucknow,the raid was conducted and three wholesale dealers in Naveen vegetable market at Sitapur road,where the IT team had to face resistance from local traders,who alleged that they were being unnecessarily harassed in the name of raids.

About the recovery,the official said that they records of stock was being checked by the staff and it would take time to elaborate about it.

The raids came after reports that onion were being sold at exorbitant prices and tax was evaded by the dealers to make profits,sources said.

Income Tax dept swoops down on 8220;commodity hoarders8221;

Income Tax Department carried out survey operations of over 10 wholesale vegetable merchants across Punjab,Jammu and Kashmir,Haryana and Chandigarh in a move to check commodity hoarding in the wake of soaring onion prices.

8220;The survey operations,which commenced yesterday,are primarily aimed to check profiteering made by hoarders of vegetables,8221; a senior official of Income Tax Department Investigation Wing said here today.

Though the surveys were still going,the IT sleuths said they are investigating the records and books of accounts of these traders to ascertain the mismatch between physical stocks of goods and stocks maintained in account books.

However,the department refused to divulge much about the ongoing operations.

Income Tax department officials swooped down on vegetable merchants in Jalandhar,Ludhiana,Amritsar,Chandigarh,Faridabad and Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously.

Onions are being sold at Rs 45-50 per kg in markets of Chandigarh and several parts of Punjab including Ludhiana,Amritsar.