No onion auctions in Nashik mandis for second day

    Nashik, Oct 27 (PTI) For the second straight day,
traders kept off the onion auction in all the 15 mandis or
markets in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Tuesday to
protest against the Centre-imposed stock limit on the staple.
    Onion auctions remained closed on the second
consecutive day in all the 15 Agriculture Produce Market
Committees (mandis) of the district, including the Lasalgaon
APMC, Asia's biggest onion market, APMC sources said.
    To contain onion prices, the Centre on Friday last
imposed stock holding limit on retail and wholesale traders
till December 31 to improve the domestic availability of the
commodity and provide relief to consumers.
    Retailers can stock onion only up to 2 tonne, whereas
wholesale traders are allowed to keep up to 25 tonne, it said.
    Auctions of vegetables and other farm produce took
place on Tuesday, but there was no activity from traders on
the onion buying front, the sources said.
    A meeting of APMC directors and trader representatives
was held to break the deadlock, but it remained inconclusive.
    APMC chairperson Suvarna Jagtap appealed to the Union
government to rethink its decision to put a stock limit on the
commodity.
    Due to the closure of auctions, transactions worth
crores have been stalled, causing losses to onion farmers.
    Meanwhile, former Union agriculture minister and
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will be in
Nashik on Wednesday and he is expected to meet protesting
traders to find an amicable solution.
    The NCP is part of the MVA government in the state.
    Maharashtra is one of the top producers of onions and
Nashik is a major hub of the commodity. PTI COR
RSY RSY

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)