The rising prices of onion are causing distress among consumers and have removed it from the common man’s bowl of pakhal (watered rice) in Odisha.

The onion is being sold at ₹70 to ₹80 per kg in the retail market, depending on its quality. On the price rise of onions, Odisya Byabasayi Mahasangha (Odisha traders' association) maintained that it was because of the corporate lobby and the government sidestepping the common man's interest.

Pinki Mahakud, 26, who resides in a slum and works in different households, told The Telegraph: "What would we eat with the rice now? The skyrocketing prices of vegetables have made it difficult to buy them. The price of Arahar dal has reached ₹180, and even the edible oil per litre has touched ₹165. How would we survive?”

She continued: “I have a kid, and my husband is a driver. We are residing in a slum by taking a house on rent. It is tough to manage life here.”

Another slum dweller Gita Mahakud, 30, said: "It's too tough to live here in the city with two of my kids and my husband who is working as a mason."

Another slum dweller, who is not willing to be quoted for fear of losing his ration card, said: "What's the meaning of getting 5kg of rice per head per month if we can't buy even something like onions to go with it?"

While the people residing in city slums are finding it tough to manage, the prices of onion and potatoes have hit the people residing in rural areas of the state too.

Ajay Patra, 22, a student from Mayurbhanj, said: “My father, who was working as a security guard, passed away two years back after suffering from liver cancer. I am pursuing my studies and my elder sister is at home with my mother. The price rise of essential commodities has hit us badly. We no longer bring dal and onion to our house. We survive on various kinds of leaves that we bring from our backyard.”

General secretary of Odisha Byabasai Mahasangha, Sudhakar Panda, told The Telegraph: “The Government of India allowed the export of onion following lobbying by the corporate houses. It has affected the domestic market.”

Panda said: “The price of onions at the source point has also gone up as the rain has hit the onion production in Maharashtra and Karnataka.”

Stating that Odisha requires 5 lakh metric tonnes of onion per annum, Panda said: “We are able to produce only 60,000 tonnes of onions, though we claim we are producing six lakh tonnes of onion — a blatant lie.”

The Mahasangha maintained that the enforcement agency's failure is another reason for the high price of onion in the retail market. “The wholesale price of the old onion stock is ₹60, and the new one hovers around ₹40 to ₹50. But we don’t know why the onion is being sold at ₹70 to ₹80 per kg in the retail market. The government should come up with a mechanism to regulate the price rise.”

Food supplies and consumer welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra told this newspaper: “Let me check the market price of the onion. We will certainly intervene.”