Hyderabad: Fed up with agents hired by middlemen and traders standing in queues repeatedly and purchasing the subsidised onions at Rs 20 a kg, the government has begun marking their fingers with indelible ink (voter's ink) to easily identify them.
The bulby vegetable is selling at about Rs 60 in the city as on Monday and even at around Rs 80 per kg in some places, up from Rs 40 two weeks back.
To control the spiraling prices of onions both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana government had, earlier this month, initiated sale of onion at Rs 20 per kg at the farmer markets.
The new system, started in Erragadda Rythu Bazaar on Sunday, has been found to be successful in checking repeat buyers and the government has decided to extend the same to other rythu bazaars.
Officials found that some hired workers engaged by middlemen and traders were making repeated purchases by standing in queues every day. This was resulting in genuine consumers being denied their fare share.
Restaurateurs have reduced the proportion of onions in their preparations and have become stingy in serving the complimentary onion salad to the customers.
Apart from local markets, the Telangana government is procuring onions from Nashik in Maharashtra and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
