The National Cooperative Consumer Federation (NCCF) will sell tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) from July 24, after prices of the essential item shot up to Rs 150 per kg in several parts of the country.
The sale on ONDC, however, will only be limited to Delhi and go on for 10-15 days according to the network's officials. The announcement comes on the heels of the Centre's direction to NCCF and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) earlier this week to sell tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg to provide respite to consumers.
According to ONDC, a limit of 1-2 kg will be placed for each purchase to ensure there is no hoarding. Consumers also can avail of the discounted price on buyer apps like Paytm and Magicpin that have integrated with the government-backed interoperable commerce network.
As on July 18, the average retail price of tomato in Delhi declined to Rs 130 per kg and to Rs 127.70 per kg in Punjab. In order to check the price of tomatoes and make them affordable, the government has started procurement under Price Stabilisation Fund and is making it available at a highly-subsidised rate to consumers.
NCCF and NAFED are continuously procuring tomatoes from 'mandis' in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and making the same available at affordable prices in major consuming centres like Delhi-NCR, Bihar, Rajasthan, etc.
Tomatoes were initially being sold at a retail price of Rs 90 per kg, which has reduced to Rs 80 per kg from July 16 and further to Rs 70 per kg from July 20.
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