Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 22 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde welcomed the steps taken by the central authorities to acquire an extra two lakh tonnes of onion from farmers in Maharashtra.
In a joint press convention together with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Eknath Shinde mentioned, “I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Piyush Goyal as we requested them to take steps to give relief to onion cultivators. Even Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde went to Delhi yesterday. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Japan also discussed the issue along with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.””NAFED took the decision of procuring an additional 2 lakh tonnes of onion. We are getting help from the Centre. It is a new benchmark. As a state Chief Minister, I thank you again for this decision,” he added.
“The state government is standing behind the support of farmers. The Prime Minister went on a visit to South Africa. Before going he took this decision. There was a discussion about increasing onion prices, new technology will also be used. Farmers will get the benefit,” Eknath Shinde mentioned.
Slamming Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s criticism of the centre imposing 40 per cent responsibility on onion exports, he mentioned, “Pawar sahab needs to welcome it. He had been the Agriculture Minister earlier when similar circumstances in onion prices used to prevail.”Asking all political events to not “politicise” the problem, the Chief Minister mentioned “No one must politicise this. They want to face by Kisans and provides strategies to the state authorities.
The central authorities has began the procurement of an extra two lakh tonnes of onion from farmers in Maharashtra on Tuesday. The determination to acquire this extra stock comes as a reduction to Maharashtra’s farmers.
The announcement of the beginning of procurement was made after a gathering between Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde in Delhi.
“The central government always works in the best interest of farmers and buys their produce from time to time… NCCF and NAFED on the direction of central government had procured 3 lakh tonne onions from various parts of Maharashtra, which in the process increased the prices. To create a balancebetween farmers and consumers, the government has imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onion. This is to ensure domestic availability,” Goyal advised ANI. (ANI)