CHENNAI: The state government has launched the sale of onions at a subsidised price of Rs 35 per kg, as announced in the Assembly, to contain the recent rise in prices and ease the burden on consumers. Onions are currently being sold at retail prices of Rs 55 to Rs 60 per kg in the open market.The initiative, undertaken by the Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department on the instructions of Chief Minister S. Joseph Vijay, will see onions being sold through 8,914 outlets across the state from Thursday.Food and Civil Supplies Minister Venkatramanan recently informed the Assembly that the state would procure and sell onions to consumers at Rs 35 per kg while responding to Opposition Leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s calling attention motion on the steep rise in the prices of essential commodities and perishables over the last 100 days.As part of the first phase, the government has procured 1,000 metric tonnes of onions from Nashik in Maharashtra through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF).Under the scheme, each family cardholder will be eligible to purchase one kg of onions at Rs 35. The onions will be sold through fair price shops in urban areas, district consumer cooperative wholesale stores, primary cooperative stores, retail outlets operated by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, and Farm Fresh outlets.The sale was launched in Chennai on Thursday by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Venkataramanan and Cooperation Minister V. Gandhirajan at a fair price shop on TTK Road functioning under the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society.The government said the market intervention was aimed at ensuring the availability of quality onions at affordable prices and mitigating the impact of rising open-market prices, particularly on poor and middle-class families.
