Nashik: Onion auctions to resume at APMCs from August 24

Onion auctions at all APMCs in Maharashtra's Nashik district, closed for three days now, will resume from Thursday as traders protesting the imposition of 40 per cent export duty on the key kitchen staple have decided to withdraw the agitation, a traders' representative here said.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the representatives of traders-exporters and farmers with Union minister Dr Bharati Pawar here on Wednesday. After the meeting, Pawar also said a representative of the traders in Nashik informed in the meeting that they are withdrawing the decision of closure of onion auctions at the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and the operations there will start tomorrow. 

About the 40 per cent export duty, we will request the Union government to rethink and take a positive decision on the issue, she said. Pawar, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, is the member of Parliament from Dindori in Nashik. Onion auctions at most of the APMCs in Nashik, including the Lasalgaon APMC which is known as Asia's biggest wholesale onion market, have been closed as traders are against the hike in the export duty on the kitchen staple.

Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday alleged that some political opponents are creating a wrong picture about the export duty slapped on onion, and urged farmers not to worry as the Centre has restarted procurement at Rs 2,410 per quintal for its buffer stock. After the meeting here on Wednesday, Nashik District Onion Traders Association president Khandu Deore said, Our reasonable demand is that the Union government should think about traders while imposing any duty on onions. Traders do not create obstacles for farmers. Dr Pawar has given an assurance of giving a thought to the demand of traders. As a result, we are withdrawing our agitation and starting onion auctions at APMCs in Nashik district from tomorrow, he said.