The Maharashtra Legislative Council and Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a face-off between the ruling coalition and opposition members over a discussion on falling onion prices.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve demanded a discussion on falling onion prices but deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe denied the request, leading to chaos.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government is taking all measures to provide relief to the onion farmers by buying their produce, NDTV reported.
Following the adjournment, Danve, who belongs to the Thackeray faction, told reporters, that the state government is trying to silence the voice of the Opposition. All we wanted was a detailed discussion on issues of crashing onion prices and farmers’ woes, he added.
Gorhe, who too is from the Thackeray camp, first adjourned the upper house twice but the ruckus continued. She then adjourned the house proceedings for the rest of the day.
Currently, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLC Anil Parab is the party’s chief whip in the House. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shinde bloc in the state currently does not have a majority in the Upper House.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that his government is with the onion farmers, amid reports of falling prices of the key kitchen staple in the wholesale market, and talked of financial help for the growers if required.
“We are firmly standing by the onion growers in the state. NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited) has started onion procurement and that would push the prices up,” Shinde told the legislative assembly.
NAFED, an apex organisation under the Union Ministry of Agriculture, deals with marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce in India.
“On our request, NAFED has increased its onion procurement and 2.38 lakh tonnes (of onion) have already been purchased from farmers. If a particular area does not have a procurement centre, then it will be opened for farmers,” Shinde said on the second day of the budget session of the state legislature.
Earlier in the assembly, Chhagan Bhujbal, an NCP leader from Nashik district, spoke about farmers’ distress and questioned the Centre’s policy over onion.
“One of the biggest onion wholesale markets in the state is in my constituency. As per available information, there is a huge demand for Indian onion in countries like Turkiye, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Morocco, Uzbekistan and Belarus. We should export onion so that it benefits our farmers,” said the senior Nationalist Congress Party leader.
“Several international traders have complained that the Indian government is arbitrarily imposing ban (on onion export) or lifting it. Hence, they are not keen on procuring (onion) from us. There is no consistency in our policy,” he said.
“I urge the state government to speak with the people in Delhi, maybe Piyush Goyal (Union commerce minister), but ensure farmers do not incur losses,” he said.
The price per kilogram of onion came down to Rs 2 to Rs 4 on Monday at Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Asia’s biggest onion market, prompting angry farmers to stop the auction of the key kitchen staple.
(With PTI inputs)
Read all the Latest Politics News here
Comments
0 comment