Onion Traders Call Off Strike, Resume Auctions In Nashik District, But Lasalgaon Remains Shut

Onion traders in the Nashik district of Maharashtra called off their strike and resumed auctions of the commodity today (18 September), except in Lasalgaon where the business will re-start from tomorrow (19 September), APMC sources said.

After the traders met Nashik collector Radhakrishnan B last evening, onion auctions at agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) in the Nashik district, except Lasalgaon APMC, resumed today. Auction could not take place at Lasalgaon, the largest APMC for onions in the country, due to heavy rain in the last few days and lack of place for the traders, but the exercise will begin from tomorrow.

The state administration had earlier threatened to cancel the licences of onion traders who fail to resume auctions in the APMCs of Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Umrane, Deola and Kalvan from Monday, and in response, traders today started onion auctions.

Auctions have been suspended since last Friday (15 September), after officials of income tax (IT) department had conducted raids on 25 godowns on between 14 and 16 September to prevent hoardings and black marketing of the onions. According to APMC sources, at Pimpalgaon Baswant prices of the onions were Rs 1,620 to Rs 1,150 per quintal.

Radhakrishnan said onion traders should take care of onion growers and if traders have any problem they should approach the APMC, and the district administration would try and resolve the issues.

In spite of the heavy demand for onions from Nashik due to crop failure in states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, farmers have claimed that they were not getting the right price. PTI