Nagpur: In a serious bid to avoid a backlash from onion growers as witnessed during the Lok Sabha elections Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar on Thursday urged the Centre to immediately remove 20% export duty on onions to provide relief to farmers.

In a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Pawar highlighted the issues concerning farmers from Nashik district, where onion is grown in large quantities.

“The onion from Nashik has a huge demand in foreign lands. However, the government of India has levied 20% export duty on onions and hence the exports from the farmers are further hampered. Considering the interests of these farmers, if we remove the 20% export duty on onions, the farmers can heave a sigh of relief with some of their losses being recovered,” he said.

Due to the arrival of a large stock of onions, farmers are now in distress as they are forced to sell their produce at a much lower rate since they have yet to receive any minimum support price, said Pawar. They are selling onions at an average of Rs2,400 per quintal, he said.

Earlier, several local representatives, including MLAs Nitin Pawar, Dilip Bankar, Hiraman Khoskar and Saroj Ahire wrote letters to Pawar urging him to take swift action on this matter.

Meanwhile, angry over the drop in onion prices, farmers on Thursday briefly stopped auctions at the Lasalgaon APMC, the country's largest wholesale market of the key kitchen staple in Nashik district.

Onion prices have been witnessing a decline since the last few days.

However, as the prices dropped drastically at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), onion farmers stopped the auctions and registered their protest on Thursday, the officials said.

In the morning session, the minimum price was Rs 800 per quintal, maximum Rs 2,900 per quintal and an average Rs 1,900 per quintal, as per the officials.