The surge in the price of onions has been a matter of concern over the past few weeks in Visakhapatnam. While 150 tonnes of onions are consumed in the city every day, the markets have not been able to supply more than 25 tonnes, for the last few days. In order to bridge this gap, the Andhra Pradesh government has ordered the officials to sell onions of Krishnapuram variety at Rs 50 per kg at thirteen rythu bazaars in Visakhapatnam, starting from Monday.
Cultivated in Kadapa district, the Krishnapuram variety of onions is being sold for the first time in the city. Reportedly, special counters have been set up in rythu bazaars, where each person can purchase up to 1 kg of these onions.
With the onion prices failing to come down, people have been waiting in long queues outside rythu bazaars from as early as 3:30 AM to procure the vegetable at subsidised prices. The situation escalated on Friday, when consumers hurled stones at the gates of Narasimha Nagar rythu bazaar, urging the market officials to open them.
In a bid to ease the onion crisis, a special team from the Horticulture department from the state visited Maharashtra last week, to import onions to the city. While the arrival of subsidised onions from Maharashtra might be delayed, the officials are expecting that the ones brought in from Krishnapuram will help in meeting the public’s demand to an extent in Visakhapatnam.
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