Four days after the Income-Tax department conducted raids on prominent onion traders in Nashik district, the auction of onions resumed in various Agriculture Market Produce Committees (APMCs) on Monday. Of the total 15 APMCs in the district, auctions resumed in 13. The country’s biggest market of Lasalgaon, however, could not start operations because of heavy rains over the weekend. The Lasalgaon and Satana markets are expected to open by Tuesday.
The resuming of auctions after the raids also saw farmers getting lower prices than what they had been receiving last week. The modal price at Pimpalgaon, the second biggest onion market, was Rs 1,150 per quintal. The price a day before the raids was around Rs 1,405. The state administration had threatened to cancel licences of all onion traders who fail to resume auctions in various APMCs of Nashik from Monday.
The APMCs of Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Umrane, Deola and Kalvan were given notices by the district administration to resume onion auction from Monday. The notice stated that all those who would not take part would have their licences revoked. A series of raids by the Income Tax department on seven prominent onion traders in Nashik district on Thursday had brought onion auction to a grinding halt in the district.
The raids were conducted early Thursday on 25 locations owned by prominent traders including Satish Lunkad of Satana, Khandu Deore of Umrane, Praveen Hedda of Chandwad, Ratanlal Raka of Lasalgaon, Kantilal Surana of Lasalgaon, Rameshwar Attal of Yeola and Sohanlal Bhandari of Pimpalgaon.
The raids were a culmination of a month-long monitoring of these markets in Nashik district, the onion basket of the country accounting for nearly 15 per cent of the onion production. Last month, a delegation from the central government led by top officials of the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution was in Lasalgaon to ascertain the reasons behind the massive fluctuation in onion prices in APMCs.
Subsequently, the local administration had been keeping a close eye on onion stocks in godowns of traders to ensure there was no hoarding. In spite of the heavy demand for onions from Nashik due to crop failure in states like Gujarat and MP, farmers claimed they were not getting the right price.
The resuming of auctions after the raids also saw farmers getting lower prices than what they had been receiving last week. The modal price at Pimpalgaon, the second biggest onion market, was Rs 1,150 per quintal. The price a day before the raids was around Rs 1,405. The state administration had threatened to cancel licences of all onion traders who fail to resume auctions in various APMCs of Nashik from Monday.
The APMCs of Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Umrane, Deola and Kalvan were given notices by the district administration to resume onion auction from Monday. The notice stated that all those who would not take part would have their licences revoked. A series of raids by the Income Tax department on seven prominent onion traders in Nashik district on Thursday had brought onion auction to a grinding halt in the district.
The raids were conducted early Thursday on 25 locations owned by prominent traders including Satish Lunkad of Satana, Khandu Deore of Umrane, Praveen Hedda of Chandwad, Ratanlal Raka of Lasalgaon, Kantilal Surana of Lasalgaon, Rameshwar Attal of Yeola and Sohanlal Bhandari of Pimpalgaon.
The raids were a culmination of a month-long monitoring of these markets in Nashik district, the onion basket of the country accounting for nearly 15 per cent of the onion production. Last month, a delegation from the central government led by top officials of the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution was in Lasalgaon to ascertain the reasons behind the massive fluctuation in onion prices in APMCs.
Subsequently, the local administration had been keeping a close eye on onion stocks in godowns of traders to ensure there was no hoarding. In spite of the heavy demand for onions from Nashik due to crop failure in states like Gujarat and MP, farmers claimed they were not getting the right price.