Nashik farmer's onions were of low quality, blackish: Report

Mumbai: A report submitted to the Maharashtra government by the district deputy registrar office on the Nashik farmer, who had sent his onion sale earnings to the Prime Minister’s Office, has said that his onions were of medium to low quality and blackish in colour. However, authorities of the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee said that the report was false, as no official of the district deputy registrar office had met them regarding the farmer’s case.

Earlier this month, Sanjay Sathe, a farmer from Niphad tehsil of Nashik district, had sent Rs 1,064 — his earnings from onion sale in the wholesale market — to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a demonstration of protest against the low selling price to the farmers.

Following that, the Prime Minster Office had sought a report from the authorities to verify Mr Sathe’s claims of getting Rs 1.41 per kg rate in wholesale market.

Accordingly, the office of Nashik district deputy registrar of the state cooperation department prepared the report, which said, “Lasalgaon APMC has clarified that Sanjay Sathe’s onions were of medium to low quality and blackish in colour.”

“The onion he had sold was harvested in summer and fetched Rs 151 per quintal rate,” it added.

When contacted, Jaydutt Holkar, chairman of Lasalgaon APMC, however, said the report contained “false” information.

“No official of DDR ever met me or my office reg-arding Mr Sathe’s case. His onion was certainly not blackish in colour. Onions being blackish in colour indicate low quality of produce,” he told a news agency

“I cannot say how the DDR made such false statements in its report. It seems they do not want to tell the ground reality to the PM,” he said.

When asked about the onion wholesale market, Holkar said, “It is not about a farmer who earned very little. Every farmer, irrespective of the quality of their onions, is getting lower rates due to the increased supply to the markets in our region.”