Govt Hasn't Defined Hoarding, Traders Says

When does a 'regular stock' of vegetables turn into 'hoarding'? As the government cracks down on onion and potato 'hoarders', neither the Centre nor the Delhi government has fixed any limit on the quantity of these items that a trader can store without facing charges of hoarding.

The government is yet to define hoarding for any vegetable, including potatoes and onions, said Rajendra Sharma, former chairman of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, Azadpur Mandi.

However, a senior government official said that now that onions and potatoes have been brought under the Essential Commodities Act, the government would fix limits on the size of stocks that vegetable traders can maintain.

Since these limits are yet to be declared, the purpose of the recent raids at more than 500 premises is not very clear. The government official said the raids were conducted to curb hoarding of items such as pulses. However, Rajendra Sharma alleged that the raids were conducted to mislead the public and show that the government was serious about controlling prices.

Sharma added that traders in the capital depend on daily supply of both the items. As these items cannot be stored for more than a week without keeping them in cold storage, hoarding is risky. If hoarding does take place, it is by traders close to areas where potato and onion is produced and by big farmers themselves who wait for an opportune time to sell the produce.

This was also proved in the recent raids when no hoarding of unreasonably large quantities of both items was found, Sharma added.

Traders at the Azadpur Mandi warned that imposition of ESMA on onions and potatoes could be counter productive. It might lead to further price rise, they said. If the limit on the amount that a trader is allowed to store is fixed low, traders would reduce the amount bought daily by them, in order to avoid ESMA will.

Traders argued that if the government wanted to control prices of potato and onion, it must prohibit exports of both items. India produced around 19 million tonnes (MT) of onions in 2013-14 as against 17 MT in 2012-13. Out of the 19 MT production, 1.5 MT were exported in 2013-14.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com