Potato and Onion Retailers in Assam arrested for charging more than the legal limit

Special teams formed by the Kamrup Metro district administration in the Indian State Assam to monitor prices of essential commodities have started legal proceedings against 10 onion and potato retailers so far this month for overcharging customers, following which police have arrested them.



An official statement issued today said that seven retailers were picked up from the vegetable markets of Beltola and Six Mile on Wednesday evening after the inspection team found that they were charging much more than the stipulated price from customers.



Cases under Section 188 of IPC were filed against the seven – Ganesh Das, Jinnah Ali, Hitesh Talukdar, Dilip Kumar Kalita, Mafizul Mandal, Gafur Ali and Md Jalaluddin – at the Dispur police station. They were arrested by the police.



The special team also seized 16 kgs of potatoes and 18 kgs of onions from the retailers.



Following that, yesterday evening the team conducted an inspection at the Maligaon Shuttle Gate market. Three retailers were found to be overcharging customers and were arrested by the police. The three are Bhaben Kalita, Bimal Baishya and Rashid Ali.



Cases have been filed against them at the Jalukbari police station. Over 1.15 quintals of onions were seized from them.

It is noteworthy that the Kamrup Metro district administration had recently mandated that retailers can charge maximum Rs 6 per kg for onions over the wholesale rate and Rs 4 per kg of potatoes over the wholesale rate. According to the administration data, the retail rate of onions in the city today should be between Rs 50 to 65 per kg depending on varieties of onions while that of potatoes should be between Rs 13 to 18 per kg.