Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Thursday announced Rs 200 per quintal onion subsidy days after farmers sent money orders to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to mark their protest against plummeting prices.
The subsidy can be derived for onions sold between November 1 and December 15 with a limit of 200 quintals per farmer. Minister Girish Mahajan said, “Cabinet has approved Rs 150 crore as relief to onion farmers who had to sell their produce at very low prices."
The BJP government in the state said that the subsidy will bring much-needed relief to farmers, the opposition claimed that anything less than Rs 500/kilo isn't enough. NCP leader Dhananjay Munde said: "This won't help farmers. We want the government to announce at least Rs 500 per quintal subsidy."
A few days ago, distressed farmers had given away onions for free, after they earned as little as Rs 0.51 per kilogram. "We are getting 51 paise for per kilo of onion. It doesn't even help us recover the investment we made," a farmer from Nashik had said.
Speaking to News18, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, "At several places in Nashik, farmers have kept heaps of onions on the streets as they don't even have the money to take the onions to the market. A farmer committed suicide in the storage area meant for onions."
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