Officials did not find any evidence of illegal activity but blamed discrepancies on low supplies of onions.
Representation photo
The Anti Corruption Bureau conducted inspections at various Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) establishments on Friday evening after several wholesale traders accused them of illegally siphoning off onions. In Bengaluru, the APMC centre at Yeshwanthpur was inspected by Lokayukta SP Tyagarajan, two DySPs and two inspectors. Lokayukta police say that they did not find any discrepancies but the problem was low supply of onions. On Friday evening, onion prices shot up in Karnataka. Onions are currently being priced between Rs 140 and Rs 200 per kilo. Lokayukat police said that regular inspections are being conducted on APMC centres to ensure that onions are not being siphoned off. Officials with the Food and Civil Supplies Department said that random inspections are being conducted on small and medium-sized outlets selling onions to ensure that onions are not being siphoned away illegally. "We have been conducting random inspections for the last 10 days to ensure that there are no illegal activities taking place. Bengaluru alone used to get 1.39 lakh tonnes of onion per day. Now we are getting only 36,000 tonnes per day," he said. Supermarkets are selling onions for Rs 180 per kilo and hypermarkets have priced them at Rs 200 per kilo. AMPC officials said that the smaller variety of shallots are being sold at Rs 60 per kilo. Food and Civil Supplies Department officials say that the prices of onions are likely to go up in the coming week as the imports initiated by the Centre have not yet reached India. Karnataka Chief Secretary on Friday wrote to the central government, requesting it to provide 250 metric tonnes of onions to Karnataka. The Centre has initiated imports of onions from Egypt and Turkey, which is expected to reach India by December 15, the officials said. “The supply of onions has decreased by 70% in Karnataka. The recent floods and crop loss in Karnataka and Maharashtra has reduced the supply. The Lokayukta, local police and our department officials are monitoring thefts as there were cases reported in Gadag and other districts,” the official said. On December 1, about 40 bags of onions were stolen from the fields belonging to a farmer named Kalkayya Prabhuswamimutt, in Gadag’s Naregal town. In Gajendragad in Gadag, onions worth Rs 80,000 was stolen from the fields of Muttappa Yavagal on November 29. Farmers are now keeping watch on their fields at night as they are wary of thieves. A video of farmers guarding their crops had gone viral on December 2, soon after the thefts were reported in Gadag.
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