Delhi Congress President Devender Yadav, on Sunday, blamed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP-led Central government for the rise in prices of vegetables in the city.
He alleged that vegetables like onion, which are part of the staple diet, are selling for Rs 70-75 per kg due to market manipulation and the protection given by the AAP government to hoarders and black marketers to create an artificial scarcity.
Yadav pointed out that while tomatoes are selling for Rs 80 potatoes are selling at Rs 40 per kg which shows the government’s incompetence in managing the price hike and the commoners have to suffer.
Criticising the BJP, Yadav said people are forced to purchase onions at inflated rates in the absence of NAFED (The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) outlet outlets or vans in the neighbourhood even as the Central government promised to provide them at Rs 35 through NAFED.
Hence, Yadav said both the BJP and the AAP government are equally responsible for allowing monopoly in the purchase and sale of vegetables like onions, despite knowing that the monsoon season will affect the harvest and cultivation of onion crops.
Neither the Centre nor state governments took any steps to create a buffer stock in Delhi so that prices could be maintained at a reasonable level when the arrival of onions depleted.