Centre questions MP government’s onion procurement policy

Bhopal: Amid reports of massive corruptions in procurement of onion from farmers in Madhya Pradesh, the Centre has questioned the state government’s decision to purchase of the commodity at a price much higher than its minimum support price (MSP).

A high level official meeting, convened in Bhopal on Monday, took stock of the situation following Centre’s reported decision to block the funds to the state in the head pending submission of clarifications to its queries on the “flawed” onion procurement policy of the MP government, highly placed official sources disclosed to a local newspaper.

Sources revealed that the Centre had taken exception to the state government’s decision to procure onion directly from the farmers at a price of Rs 8 a kilo against its MSP fixed at Rs 5.86 per kg, causing huge loss to the state exchequer.

“The Centre has blocked Rs 78 crore to be released to the state towards procurement of onion pending submissions of clarifications on the state government’s faulty procurement policy”, sources said. “Centre has sought  clarifications (regarding onion procurement). We are sending the clarifications shortly”, said a senior officer of Markfed.