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| October 24, 2005 | Monday | Ramzan 19, 1426 |
Pakistani onions reach Amritsar
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: A train carrying 30 tons of onions from Pakistan reached Amritsar on Saturday as India struggled to manage a sharp shortage of the commodity and its price rise, Indian news reports said on Sunday.
Onion traders said more Pakistani onions would arrive by next week. The Indian government is considering further imports as the onion prices surged to the highest in eight years over the past week.
The crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time, almost right in the middle of two religious seasons — Ramazan and Diwali.
India’s Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the onion crisis would be resolved in 10 days. He said the commodity would be bought in from states that had an excess of produce.
In New Delhi, the state government said it would keep a check on black marketing of onions.
“We will open 25 to 30 retail stores near our mandis in Delhi. We will monitor the prices here and these shops will sell onions for Rs16-20 from tomorrow,” said Delhi Food and Supplies Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan.
These urgent measures have been taken after prices of onions hit Rs30 a kg in the Indian capital.
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