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Onion export banned, 13,000 tonnes to be imported

The government today banned export of onions and decided to import 13,000 tonnes of the vegetable in a bid to check the price rise.

The onions to be imported immediately from the nearest available sources, possibly from Oman and Iran, will hit the market latest by next week, an official spokesman said.

While the National Agricultural Federation would import 10,000 tonnes for sale across the country, the Delhi government would bring in 3,000 tonnes to tide over the onion crisis in the city where the vegetable was selling at over Rs 50 in the open market.

The government had also waived customs on onion imports.

The ban on onion exports would be in force till the arrival of the fresh crop, it was announced.

The decisions were taken by a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar. The committee held meetings today and yesterday at the instance of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee who had taken a serious view of the onion crisis, the spokesman said.

The meetings chaired by Kumar were attended by secretaries of agriculture, civil supplies, commerce and finance ministries, prime minister's secretary N K Singh, and the chief secretary of Delhi.

UNI

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