Tomato prices to come down soon Government informs Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: There is some good news for citizens. The government on Thursday in a written reply told Rajya Sabha that the prices of tomato are likely to come down as there has been increase in the new crop from Nasik, Naryangaon and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Minister of state for consumer affairs Ashwini Choubey said that tomatoes have been disposed initially at the retail price of Rs 90 per kg which has been reduced to Rs 80 per kg from July 16 and further reduced to Rs 70 per kg from July 20.

The Minister said that the consumer affairs department monitors the daily prices of 22 essential food commodities, including tomato.

In order to check the current increase in prices of tomato and make it available to the consumers at affordable prices, the government has started the procurement of tomatoes under price stabilisation fund and is making it available at a highly subsidised rate to consumers.

The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring tomato from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and making it available at affordable prices in major consuming centres in Delhi-NCR, Bihar and Rajasthan among other places after subsidising the price to the consumers, he added.