Delhi onion traders to go on strike, government threatens action (Lead)
January 11th, 2011 - 10:31 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Onion traders in the national capital announced an indefinite strike from Wednesday to protest raids on their premises in the wake of spiralling onion prices. The Delhi government threatened to invoke a stringent law against them unless they back down.”We are going on a strike for an indefinite period to protest the IT raids on onion traders,” Meetha Ram, president of the Chamber of Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Sellers, told IANS.
“There has been no hoarding, whatever stock we have, we sell it every day,” he said. “Yet the raids not only checked for stocks, they also checked the cash with the traders,” Ram added.
The trader said that if any hoarding was found anywhere in the city, they will back off immediately.
“If they can show us hoarding anywhere, we will back off immediately. The price rise is because of a demand-supply gap,” he said.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf said if necessary, the Delhi government would not hesitate to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act against the onion traders if they go on strike.
“We are trying our best to bring down the prices of onion and at this juncture, the strike is totally uncalled for,” he told reporters here.
He said the government was ready to look into “genuine grievances” of the traders but would not allow them to make people suffer.
Earlier, onion traders in Nashik had also gone on a strike Monday morning protesting IT raids there, but called it off later.
The IT department had last week conducted similar raids in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and few other states to check hoarding of onions. The wholesale price of onion is around Rs.40 to Rs.47 per kg in wholesale and Rs.55 to Rs.60 per kg in retail in the national capital.
To provide relief to people, the Delhi government has made arrangement to sell onions at Rs.35 per kg at around 400 select outlets across in the city including the Mother Dairy stores and Kendriya Bhandars.
“The subsidised onions would be made available at the outlets from tomorrow (Wednesday),” Yusuf said.
- Delhi onion traders on strike from Wednesday - Jan 11, 2011
- Onion traders in Delhi go on indefinite strike against raids - Jan 12, 2011
- Onion traders call off strike after talks with Delhi Chief Minister - Jan 12, 2011
- Peeved at raids, Delhi onion traders continue strike - Jan 12, 2011
- Delhi markets raided to check onion hoarding - Jan 10, 2011
- Onion traders in Delhi call off strike (Lead) - Jan 12, 2011
- Onion prices decline following raids on godowns in UP - Jan 08, 2011
- Nasik onion traders on strike, prices drop in Maharashtra - Jan 10, 2011
- Onions at Rs.5 per kg soon? Traders say so - Jan 13, 2011
- Chhattisgarh to raid onion traders - Dec 28, 2010
- Onion prices slide as export ban takes effect (Roundup) - Dec 22, 2010
- Delhi traders, consumers hoping for stable onion prices - Jan 13, 2011
- Onion traders call off strike, prices to dip in a week (Second Lead) - Jan 12, 2011
- Tomatoes join high-priced onions, more supplies come from Pakistan (Intro Roundup) - Dec 24, 2010
- Onion export ban to be reviewed - Sep 19, 2011
Tags: civil supplies minister, dairy stores, delhi government, essential services, fruit and vegetable, gap, grievances, haroon, hoarding, indefinite period, indefinite strike, juncture, maharashtra, maintenance act, monday morning, onion prices, rs 40, services maintenance, vegetable sellers, wholesale price