Even as vegetable prices have sent the budgets of many homes in the national capital haywire, vendors say they are expected to go sky high.
The price of onions in the wholesale market on Tuesday was Rs 50 a kg, but in retail stores it ranged
between Rs 60-80 a kg.
"There has been poor
harvest of onions this year due to rain shortage in Maharashtra. Prices of onions will continue to rise. There is inadequate stock to meet demands," Ram Dhan, a vegetable wholesaler in Azadpur Sabzi Mandi, told IANS.
Hoarding by traders is also being blamed for the rise in prices but traders denied any wrongdoing.
"There has been no hoarding by us. We are just creating stocks so that we can meet the demand and supply. If we do not create stock right now, there will be months when the onion supply would be nil," said Mahendra Khuranna, owner of Jagriti Agro, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Sabzi Mandi.
The Delhi government on its part plans to seek
a ban on onion export.
Delhi Food and Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf said: "The chief minister (Sheila Dikshit) will write a letter to
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to stop the export of onion."
Urging people not to panic as the national capital's godowns had a stock of 2,200 tonnes of onion, Yusuf said 50 mobile vans have been arranged to sell subsidised onions from August 17.
The state government has already set up 350 onions vending stalls.
Yusuf said the Delhi government would also urge Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - from where onions arrive in Delhi - to take action against hoarders.
With inputs from IANS 
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