Onion price soars to Rs 120/kg, burns a hole in common man’s pocket in Chandigarh

Onion prices continue to rise amid tightening of supplies. They touched Rs 110-120 per kg on Thursday.
Traders in the Sector 26 market said while people try to negotiate the rates, but it can’t be helped as they were also getting the vegetables at high rates. Savita Devi, an onion seller in the market, said, “We are also troubled with erratic supply.We also have to sell an at the same time keep an eye out as taking the advantage of crowd in the market, some people shoplift some onions. It is very strange, but these things are also happening.”

The rates have risen from Rs 30 per kg in August and are hovering between Rs 110-120 per kg. “We are waiting for the supply from Alwar as it will help beat the situation and only then rates will fall down,” said an official of the mandi board.
While the wholesale prices are hovering around Rs 110-120 per kg, street vendors are demanding Rs 140-150. The rise in prices has made the residents cut down their household budget once again. This rise in price reflects erratic supply of onions. Satish Kumar, a street vendor in Sector 7 said, “The residents are not buying onion because of high prices. It has become difficult for us to sell onion door to door.”
A mandi board official last week had said that rates were expected to fall with the arrival of onions from Afghanistan, but the result is totally opposite. The rates are hovering between Rs 110-120 per kg in the market.
Dilpreet Kaur, a resident of Sector 10, said, “The days have come when we are just seeing the onions in market. Spending Rs 120 for a kg onion will definitely upset the home budget.” She added that the residents were waiting for the administration to cut onions prices as it did in September.
Prices of other vegetables are also increasing. Fluctuation in the rates is because of erratic supply of vegetables to the market. Radhika Sharma from Sector 27 said, “Now we have to spend at least Rs 100 for vegetables in a day.” She added that the rise in prices was upsetting the kitchen budget.