Fadnavis Writes to Centre, Urges Onion Export Ban be Lifted

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis wrote to Piyush Goyal urging Centre reconsider the ban on export of onions.

Hyderabad: Onion sellers at a wholesale market in Hyderabad on Dec. 7, 2019. 

(Photo: IANS)

BJP leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote to Union Minister Piyush Goyal on 15 December, urging the Centre reconsider the ban on export of onions.

In his letter, Fadnavis pointed out that onions cultivated in Maharashtra are in high demand in the overseas markets and fetch a good price for farmers. The ex-CM added that the move has left farmers in the state dejected. He concluded the letter by urging the Centre reconsider the ban.

Devendra Fadnavis’s appeal comes just a day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar took to social media to state that the Centre’s move was a “major blow to India's image as a reliable exporter of onions in the international market”.

“I also emphasised on the fact that Pakistan and other onion exporters will benefit immensely from this situation. In view of all this, I urged Piyush Goyal ji to reconsider the ban on onion exports.”

Sharad Pawar, NCP Chief 

The Department of Commerce banned the export of onions with immediate effect on Monday, 14 September, after the average trade price of onions at Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon wholesale market touched Rs 30 per kg, double of what it was in March. Another reason for the steep rise in price of onions in the wholesale market has been attributed to heavy rains in August that washed away onion crops in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and a few other states.