NEW DELHI: Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar has ruled out the possibility of including onion under the Essential Commodity Act, despite the recent shortage.

He said there were 130 commodities under the Act. Four years ago, the Government decided to reduce the list to seven or eight items and remove all other commodities from the Act. "It will not be possible to include onion in this category,'' he told Rajya Sabha on Friday during Question Hour.

Export

Mr. Pawar said it was not possible to stop exports during the recent scarcity as the presence in the international market had been built assiduously. There was a proposal to go in for imports from Pakistan to tide over the situation but this was not done as the price quoted was almost the same as in the domestic market.

The Minister denied that the Government was not paying attention to onion production and storage in parts of the country other than Maharashtra. "Only 28 per cent onion is produced in Nasik area of Maharashtra, the rest comes from Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Karnataka and other States,'' he said.

According to him, the scarcity this year was caused by floods in Maharashtra. "In other years there has been a glut in the market and farmers had to dispose of stocks at throwaway prices.''

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