Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 26: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today announced government intervention in the open market to control the rising prices of onion in the State. The shops under the Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco), the Kerala State Co-operatives Consumers’ Federation (Consumerfed) and the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) will sell onion at Rs. 45 per kg from next month.

Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “The Ministers of the Food & Civil Supplies, Co-operation, Agriculture and Finance Departments met today to take immediate action to control the rise in onion prices in the state. The meeting has decided that government agencies like Supplyco, Horticorp and Consumer Fed will buy 1,800 tonnes of onions from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). Supplyco will buy 1,000 tonnes of onions, Consumerfed 300 tonnes and Horticorp 500 tonnes, from NAFED. It will be available in the market from the first week of November and the sales are expected to start on November 3.”

The CM also informed that a letter has been sent to the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra requesting permission for the state government agencies to procure tomatoes, onions and potatoes directly from the procurement centres through a scheme run by the Central Government. The direct procurement would benefit the state immensely.