Cuttack: The decision of the Centre to procure onion from Egypt to meet the current shortfall has come as a solace for the people of Odisha.
Official sources said that the Centre, aware of the acute shortage of the essential commodity resulting in the steep hike in its price, procured 1.2 lakh tonne of onion from Egypt and the consignment arrived on Sunday. As efforts are being made to make it available throughout the country, it is expected that the price will come down drastically in a week.
“Once the consignment arrives in Odisha, the price of onion currently being sold at Rs 100 a kg will come down abruptly,” said members of the Chhatra Bazar Byabasai Mahasangh.
Once the harvest time of onion begins in Nasik (Maharashtra), Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) from the first week of January, the price will come down further.
While the average daily consumption of onion in Odisha is about 600-700 tonnes (6-7 lakh kg), it has now dropped to about 2-2.5 lakh kg due to the exorbitant price hike.
