In the wake of scrapping of old notes and its implications on markets in Telangana, Marketing Minister T Harish Rao today directed officials to procure adequate quantities of onion stocks and supply the same to people. He felt that the decision of scrapping old currency notes has shown adverse affect on marketing activities.
At a high-level review meeting at Secretariat here on Tuesday, the minister instructed the officials to procure Rs 8-a-kg onion and sell it to peope at Rs 10 a kg. He said there was dearth of onion stocks in the State and warned of serious action if anyone hoards the commodity. Directing the officials to make a study tour to Pune Onion Market, he asked them to improve facilities at Patancheru Rytu Bazar market abutting the outer ring road as Malakpet market was congested.
Harish Rao said steps should be taken for ensuring that quintal onion be purchased at the same rate of Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000 and asked the Warehousing MD Jaganmohan Rao to coordinate to procure stocks in godowns to avoid shortage. He also asked Marketing director Lakshmi Bai to visit Khammam market and speed up proposals for markets in Nalgonda district. Grading policy will prove handy in collecting arrears of marketing fee and also steps for strengthening check posts, he added. (NSS)