New Delhi: With the price of onion hitting Rs 100 per kg in the national capital, the opposition BJP and the Congress on Thursday slammed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the increase.
The retail price of onions has risen by 45 per cent in the past week to Rs 80 per kg in the national capital. The rate stood at Rs 55 per kg on October 1, according to official data.
While the Delhi Congress held a protest march against the Delhi government's failure to control the soaring prices of onion, BJP MLA met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal over the issue.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Subhash Chopra led a demonstration outside the Delhi Secretariat, along with several party leaders.
BJP MLA Vijender Gupta led a delegation of citizens to the L-G, demanding high level inquiry into the "onion scam".
Gupta, also the leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, submitted a memorandum to the L-G protesting against the "anti-people attitude" of the Kejriwal government.
"The Delhi government has failed to tackle the problem of shortage of onion forcing public to buy it at the rate of Rs 100 per kg. It turned deaf ears when the central government repeatedly requested it to buy onion at the rate of Rs 15.90 per kg out of its buffer stock of 57,000 metric tonne for making onion available in Delhi during lean period," said Gupta.
The delegation demanded a high-level inquiry to investigate the scam committed by the Kejriwal government, he said. It also alleged that the "AAP government deliberately created an artificial onion crisis by conniving with wholesale onion dealers so that they could mint crores of rupees by selling it in black market".
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Delhi government has demanded more onions from the Centre for distribution in the city.
"We have demanded more onions from the Centre. A letter has been written to the Centre in this regard. The onion will be distributed in the city as soon as it is delivered to us," he said.
On Wednesday, the Delhi government directed officials to resume doorstep sale of onion. The same day, Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain held a meeting with his department officers to review the issue of "sudden and unexplained" rise in onion prices.
Hussain had also directed agencies to work in coordination with each other to ensure timely, regular and adequate supply of onion through mobile vans.
Comments
0 comment