Government is taking steps to import and bring onions to market as soon as possible: Sitharaman 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the Central government is taking steps "to import and bring onions to the market as soon as possible".

The finance minister's comments came during a media address earlier in the day. Sitharaman said that the price of onions has "started going down at several places" in the country. 

"It is not completely less, but it is going down. We've had a group of ministers' meeting which is reviewing on almost every 1-2 days' gap and deciding on how to further take up the import-related issues," Sitharaman told media today. 

She explained how the onion crop was affected this year due to rains and flooding in some part of the country. 

"Onions are a fast perishable. Due to rain in some places, flooding in some other, crop extent was less and hence the less output. Due to this, it has gone out of a certain reasonable level. The government is taking steps to import and bring onions to the market as soon as possible," she said. 

On Thursday, the government had said that it would import an additional 12,660 metric tonnes of onions, which shall begin arriving in the country from December 27 onwards.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had also written to all Chief Ministers, asking them to carry out immediate anti-hoarding operations to ensure the supplies in the markets are augmented and stock holding limits are strictly enforced.

At various places, the rates of the kitchen commodity have breached the Rs 100 mark, with the prices reaching as high as Rs 200 at some places like Madurai in Tamil Nadu. 

(With inputs from ANI)