At ‘State Bank of Tomato’, buy the vegetable on loan 17,400 quintal onion goes missing in Bhopal, inquiry ordered
As market price of tomato continues to remain high, an offer by ‘State Bank of Tomato’ to provide cheap loan to buyers is bringing smile on people’s faces here in Uttar Pradesh.
Set up by Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress (UPYC), “State Bank of Tomato” is running its business from its headquarter here.
UPYC leaders work as bank’s chief manager and employees, extending facilities such as easy loans for buying tomatoes, attractive interest rates on its deposit and locker facility as a novel way to protest the soaring price of the vegetable.
“We are assuring double returns of tomatoes in six months. For loan, a buyer will have to return 1.5 kg tomato to us for one kg tomato taken on loan,” said UPYC leader Anshu Awasthi. Also, the UPYC had put up a special counter in front of the Vidhan Bhawan on Friday selling tomatoes at ₹10 per kg.
“This is our way to protest the soaring tomato price.We are selling it to common man to show our concern for them. CM Yogi Adityanath should understand the problem and take action,” said Shailendra Tiwari, a Youth Congress leader.
The idea behind the bank is to lodge protest and create awareness among the people about the commodity being sold at such high rates. “I bought half a kilogram tomato from the UPYC’s stall this morning. We thank them for this gesture as this is a great help,” said Shashi Kant.
Awasthi, who has been leading the UPYC’s campaign as the bank’s chief general manager, said the bank’s offers were evoking good response from people. “Our protest will continue till prices of tomato drop to at least ₹50 per kg,” he said.
Prices of tomato have shot up about four times since the beginning of June when tomatoes were being sold at about ₹25 per kg in the Delhi-National Capital Region market.
Industry body Assocham had said recently that “tomato prices may not immediately ease as flooding in some of the states that grow the vegetable has led to damage of the crop.”
Unlike onion and potato, the shelf life of tomato is very short and it needs cold chains and modern warehouses for storage and transportation, it said.
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha are the major tomato growing states. The country produces around 18 million tonnes of tomatoes.
Over 17,400 quintals of onion has gone “missing” in Bhopal, prompting the administration to institute an inquiry into the matter. The alleged scam came to notice during a routine checking of records of two mandis in Bhopal by food and civil supply corporation.
Bhopal collector Sudam Khade told HT that this year 27,000 metric tonnes of onion had been procured in Bhopal by the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited.
“In the preliminary findings regarding procurement, distribution selling and disposal of the onions at Bhopal’s Karondh mandi, it was found that 17,400 quintals of onion was not accounted for. So to trace the missing onions, I constituted a five-member inquiry committee headed by additional district magistrate that will look into the matter and submit its report within a week or so,” he said.
Khade said that Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited and food and civil supplies corporation have been asked to provide all details and documents related to procurement, storage, disposal and selling of the onions.
Amid farmer unrest in the state and crashing onion prices, the state government in June decided to buy onion at ₹8 per kg and sell it through fair price shops at ₹2 per kg.
Brajesh Dwivedi, manager (marketing) at Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited, said the issue of missing onions will be clear only when all the details and documents from both the agencies are checked thoroughly by the inquiry committee. “At the moment we can’t say anything beyond this,” he said.
This is our way to protest the soaring tomato price.We are selling it to common man to show our concern for them.