Delhi heads for “Black Diwali” with rising prices hitting every family in the city: Goel

·         Delhi Govt’s hollow claims on onion crisis fail to provide respite to common people

·         Rising prices causing grave hardship to people as government fails to act: Goel

New Delhi, October, 29:  Delhi BJP President Sh. Vijay Goel today slammed the Congress government for turning this year’s Diwali into a “Black Diwali” by its failure to control skyrocketing prices. Rising prices are causing grave hardship to common people in Delhi.

With prices of onions still hovering around Rs. 85-90 per kg., and prices of other essential commodities and vegetables showing a steep hike of 200-300% recently, every family in the city is affected.

(Table given at the end of this press statement shows the skyrocketing prices.)

Sh. Goel said, “The cosmetic measures announced by the Congress government are inadequate and not benefiting anyone. Just 350 Safal outlets and 150 mobile onion vans are insufficient to cater the needs of 1.67 crore people of Delhi. Similar half-hearted steps were taken earlier as well by the Congress government. The mobile onion vans remained invisible and have brought no relief to people, and bad quality onions were sold at Safal outlets.”

Ironically, while Delhi and rest of the country are facing acute onion crisis due to total mismanagement of economy by the Congress government, onions are being continuously exported. The result is that Indian onions are available at Rs. 40-45/kg in Bangladesh while they are selling at double this price in Delhi.

Sh. Goel said, “The Congress government is misleading through false claims of low production of onions. Infact according to the National Horticultural Research & Development Foundation of the Union Agriculture Ministry, the onion production for 2013-14 is estimated to be 10-15% higher than the last year.”

Various agencies had warned the government of impending onion crisis due to gross irregularities in the supply chain. NAFED wrote letters to the Delhi government, while the Competition Commission of India had asked the Congress led UPA government at the Centre to take effective steps to correct the irregularities of supply chain.  But nothing was done.

Average Prices of essential food items in 2010 and 2013

Articles	Prices in 2010 (in Rs.)	Prices in 2013 (in Rs.)
Rice	30	50
Arhar Dal	60	90
Urad Dal	70	90
Rajma	105	120
Chana (Gram)	80	90
Atta	10-12	18-20
Milk	32	44
Sugar	33	45
Tea	175/kg	250/kg
Salt	10	20
Mustard Oil	80/L	115-120/L
Eggs	30/ dozen	60/ dozen

Fuel prices in Delhi

Fuel	2010	2013
Petrol	47.93/L	76.06 in Sept, now 72.40/L
Diesel	40.1/ L	52.54/L
CNG	21.70/Kg	45.60/Kg