Bhubaneswar, Oct 31 : Activists of Odisha Pradesh Chhatra Congress led by its President Yashir Nawaz on Tuesday gathered at the official residence of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister R P Swain in protest against the unusual rise in prices of onion.

The Chhatra Congress activists marched in a protest rally from Sishu Bhawan square to the residence of the Minister and held a demonstration in front of his official residence.

Nawaz said poor people suffer as at present onion is being sold at Rs 80 per kg.He said neither the central government nor the state government has taken any initiative to control the surging price of onion and there is also no incentive for onion farmers.

He said in 2015, the state government launched the Onion Mission but it failed to yield any result.

The Chhttra Congress leader said the Odisha government claims that the state produces nearly 4 lakh tons of onion every year against the state’s requirement of three lakh tons.

He said the farmers sell their produce at a very cheap rate during the harvest time due to lack of adequate number of cold storage to store their produce.
The farmers, he said, mostly depend upon Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to meet their requirements.

Nawaz demanded the government to set up cold storage in the state , initiate steps to reduce the price of onion and provide incentive to the onion growers.