Mangaluru: Usually onions are known to make people shed tears at the stage of cutting. Now it may happen at the shop counters.
The price of onions have been skyrocketing during the recent past. The rise is being blamed on low production and supply.
But deeper enquiries have revealed that the development is because of hoarding and profiteering by middlemen and wholesale dealers.
On Monday, the wholesale price has shot up to Rs 57 a kilogramme. No wonder then if thieves and robbers have diverted their attention from cash and valuables towards onions for the time being.
Late last week, 700 kgs of onions were stolen from a shop in Wadala, Mumbai. Within a day, 2,000 kg of onions were stolen from a grower’s warehouse in Nashik.
WhatsApp and e-mail messages are replete with cartoons and quips on onion prices. The public concern or anger is quite understandable because the local traders here say that the price may soon shoot up to Rs 100 a kg and beyond.
The Union government appears to have done precious little to check the prices. A minister has gone on record with a suggestion to get onions processed into paste and to keep it in stock for the leaner days.
Someone needs to tell her that in the first place one should have onions in stock to process them and there are not enough onions available or affordable for daily use.
Our ‘foot-in-mouth’ netas belonging to all regions and affiliations could do well to recall that onion prices have brought down governments in the past.
A friendly reminder, just in case. History might repeat itself.
Mumbai: Robbers Eye Pricey Onion, 700 kg Stolen