Festive spirit dampened due to skyrocketing prices and govt.’s inaction: Goel

·        Delhi BJP slams Congress govt. for high vegetable prices in Delhi

·        Festive spirit dampened due to skyrocketing prices and govt.’s inaction: Goel

Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel today lambasted the Congress government for total mismanagement of the prices of essential commodities in Delhi as the onions are selling at the year’s highest prices across the city. Besides onions, other staple vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes are also selling at unprecedented prices causing lots of hardship to people of Delhi.

The wholesale price of onions has climbed to an unprecedented level and the onions sold at Rs. 65 per kg in wholesale markets on Monday. In retail, onions cost around and even above Rs. 100 per kg. For several months, onions are being sold between Rs. 70 and Rs. 90 in the city. Apart from onions, other vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and even green chillies are selling at very high prices in Delhi.

In a statement issued today, Shri Goel said, “The festival season is around but the Congress government has dampened the mood of festivity owing to its inept handling of the price situation. The vegetable prices, particularly on onions, in Delhi have increased by over 30% just over the last one week.”

Shri Goel further said, “At several places in Delhi, onion prices have crossed Rs. 90-100 per kg rate. As the government has taken no concrete step to mitigate prices, the situation is likely to worsen further in the coming days.”

“The overall production of onions this year has been estimated 10-15% higher than the last year. This means, we have enough onions for people, but the Congress government has been doing nothing to ensure supply of the vegetable even though demand has been persistent and people have been complaining about high prices due to lack of adequate supply of onions,” Shri Goel said.

Delhi's onion consumption is about 800 tonnes per day. On Monday, 1,200-1,300 bags of onion, weighing about 90 tonnes, arrived at the Azadpur wholesale market. This means there is a gap of about 710 tonnes of onions for daily consumption in Delhi. This is a reflection of the absence of planning by Delhi government. The situation with other vegetables is equally bad. This state of affairs is the result of total collapse of administration in Delhi under the Congress regime.