New Delhi : With onion prices going up during the festival season, the government on Friday said fresh supplies from Karnataka will increase its availability in a week’s time bringing down the prices to “moderate” level.

A high-level committee headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash Srivastava on Friday reviewed the price and availability situation after retail prices of onion in Delhi went up to Rs 40 per kg.

It also decided that the supply of onion to the national capital from the government’s buffer stock under Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) should be increased by two-three times “so as to tide over any constraint in the interim supply”.

The Agriculture Ministry said the sown area under the kharif onion crop was higher than that last year and fresh arrivals had started from Karnataka.

It would improve the availability and keep the prices “moderate”, the committee said.

The average wholesale prices at Nashik’s Lasalgaon market– Asia’s largest wholesale market for onion — have doubled in a week’s time to over Rs 2,100 per quintal.

The government owned Mother Dairy has already reduced onion prices by Rs 2 per kg at all its stores across Delhi.

—IANS