GUWAHATI, Aug 8 - With a view to streamlining the distribution of onions in the wholesale and retail markets of the city, the Kamrup (M) district administration has issued a series of guidelines for traders, including prohibition on sale and storage of the kitchen staple without valid licence.
An order to this effect was issued today by District Magistrate of Kamrup (M) Dr M Angamuthu. The step comes on the heels of the recent spurt in onion prices in the city as well as other parts of the State.
�No dealer shall carry on the business of purchase, sale and storage for sale of onion without obtaining a valid licence under the provisions of the relevant law of local municipal body/town committee/panchayati raj institutions, as the case may be, in the territorial jurisdiction of Kamrup (M) district,� said the order.
Wholesalers and sub-wholesalers have been directed to submit arrival report of onion showing details of receipt along with other particulars. Dealers will also have to display prices and stocks of onion at a conspicuous place in the local language.
�No dealer shall sell or offer to sell to any person onion at a price higher than that specified in the list of prices of stocks. In case of retailers of onion, they are allowed to realise a maximum Rs 6 per kg over the cash memo price issued by the wholesaler depending upon the quality of the onion. No dealer shall refuse to sell onion to any person at the prices specified in the list of prices of stocks,� said the order.
Dealers have also been forbidden from withholding sale of onion kept in stock meant for that purpose and also from selling the commodity without issuing a cash memo or bill with transaction details.
�Every dealer involved in import or purchase of onion in bulk by rail or road from outside Assam shall furnish a weekly return before the District Magistrate on the first working day of a week following the week for which the return is meant. Every dealer involved in import, purchase, sale and storage for sale of onion as a wholesaler or sub-wholesaler shall furnish a declaration regarding his place of business and godown where the stocks are stored by him along with the weekly return,� the order stated.
The administration has also directed onion dealers to maintain a stock of register of daily accounts showing daily transaction involving purchase, storage and storage for sale of onion, including the opening stock of each day, quantity received on each date showing the place from where the stock was received, quantities delivered on each day and their destinations of delivery, etc.
�Every dealer shall enter all transactions relating to purchase and sale of onion in the stock register. In case the purchase of onion is not received physically by the dealer on the date of entering any transaction, a note shall be recorded in this regard in the stock register. The quantities of onion shall be entered in the stock register in quintals and bags or packets,� said the order.
It said a dealer must complete the entries in the stock register for each day latest by the beginning of the transaction period the next day. It said that non-compliance with the order will entail penalty.