Lucknow, Oct 01 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari has directed to open sufficient onion selling centres in each district in order to make onion available to the people of Uttar Pradesh at low cost.
He also directed to ensure the constant availability of onion in the outlet opened in the Mandi Parishad. He said that according to the Gazette of the Government of India, the limit of storage of 50 metric tons to wholesale traders and 10 metric tons to retailers should be strictly complied with.
The chief Secretary held a meeting with the Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Nivedita Shukla Verma, Principal Secretary, Food and Processing Sudheer Garg, Commissioner, Food Manish Chauhan along with Director Mandi here in his office meeting hall in Lokbhavan. In this regard necessary instructions were given to make onions available at the lowest rate.
He said that a comprehensive campaign should be ensured against the hoarders of onion. He also said that the report of the progress of raids against the onion hoarders should be made available to the Chief Secretaries office by 05:00 PM. He said that the information regarding the availability and sale of Onions in all the 30 districts of state must be reported daily in the evening to the control centers setup in the directorate of Horticulture.
Principal Secretary, Horticulture and Food Sudheer Garg informed that it has been decided to open onion sales centers in the 30 districts of state, in the first phase 24 centers have been opened in 14 districts and the remaining 16 centers were opened today. He said that in 14 districts 4 Centers have been opened in Lucknow, 4 in Prayagraj, 4 in Moradabad, 2 in Saharanpur and one each in Rampur, Agra, Aligarh, Meerut, Barielly, Barabanki, Shahjahanpur, Badayun, Behraich, Siddharthnagar. The sale of onion have been started at these centers on the basis of market wholesale price.
Garg also added that the remaining 16 districts- Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Basti, Ayodhya, Unnao, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Ghazipur, Kannauj, Bhadohi, Farrukhabad, Azamgarh, Mirzapur and Kanpur city one onion sale center will be open in collaboration with Horticulture and Food processing department, Uttar Pradesh state co-operative marketing federation and Uttar Pradesh state agriculture Production Mandi Council. He informed that in Lucknow 4 Centers have been running each at Udhyan Bhavav, 2 Sapru Marg, Lucknow, Government Cold Storage, Aliganj, Lucknow, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Park at gate no. 2, Rajkiya Udhyan Alambagh Lucknow.
Director Mandi Council said that today mandi was opened again after closure and 4 more shops have been opened in Lucknow city at Dubuga Mor, Dubagga, Dubagga Mandi, Dubagga, Sitapur Road and Kisan Bazar Sitapur Road, ensuring availability of onion to the common people at wholesale rate.
Chief Secretary also directed all the officials to ensure to upload the vacancies filled through outsourcing agencies on the portal of employment department. He has also directed to ensure the regular deposit of EPF amount of the outsource skilled workers in their respective accounts. If the amount of EPF has not been deposited timely strict action will be taken against the concerned outsourcing agency, he added.
