Nashik’s Vinchur submarket has started its onion auction again. The Lasalgaon market committee talked to local traders and sold 5,000 quintal of onions.
But for the last 10 days many traders did not join the auction. Balasaheb Kshirsagar who leads Lasalgaon’s big market said they are now sending notices to these traders.
Why did traders boycott the auction? They did not agree with the 40% tax on imported onions by the central government. They also want the government to stop selling onions in open markets because this makes onion prices low. Top leaders like Ajit Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis, and Piyush Goyal talked to the traders but they did not find a solution.
Kshirsagar talked to The Indian Express and said 40 traders joined the onion auction in Vinchur. The price of onions was Rs 2,100 per quintal. This was the same price before the boycott. Some traders say that they were forced to start the auction again.
Kshirsagar also said they are taking action against traders who did not join the auction. Many traders are giving up their licenses to avoid this.
Traders also talked to Piyush Goyal. They wanted him to sell onions that the central agencies bought at different markets. But Goyal did not agree. Traders also want the market tax to be less.
On Friday Abdul Sattar from Maharashtra met with central government teams to talk about the boycott.
NCP MP Supriya Sule shared her thoughts on X. She said that no onion growers or big ministers from the state came to the meeting. She thinks that both the state and central government do not care about the onion problem.