Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has said that controlling the sky-rocketing price of onion is not in Centre’a hands.

Onion has been sold for a fortune in many parts of the country and the ‘queen of kitchen’ is an item which the Indians can ill-afford to neglect whether they cook vegetarian or non-vegetarian food items. Paswan convened a meeting of his Ministry’s officials besides officers of Ministry of Agriculture on the feasibility of taking steps to control the rising process of onion.

“During the past financial year, onion was grown in 2.65 lakh theatres while its production has decreased considerably during the current financial year. We have been taking steps to procure onion from places such as Nasik where it is sold at a lesser price and dispatch the same to various parts of the country for sale in the open market.

“However, controlling the price of onion is in the hands of the respective State Governments and it is not the Centre’s responsibility. Though we can’t control its price, we shall continue to initiate necessary action in this regard,” Paswan assured.