The man behind the counter admonishes Arora and tells her how lucky she is to get the onions today. ``There are outlets which have not received their supplies for two days now,'' the salesman explains. ``Ours is the lucky one today.'' With onion prices touching Rs 40 per kg in the open market, Delhiites have no choice but to put up with long queues, irritable salesmen and the final scramble for a handful of the vegetable.

Though the government is holding the elements responsible for the failure of the onion crop and the subsequent high prices, the man on the street is still blaming the government. ``Very few outlets are selling onions at Rs 10 per kg,'' says an irate Ram Kumar. ``Moreover, every person is getting only one kg. My entire family, including the children, is standing in the line for our share''.

Despite the fact that the Navratri festival began today, queues outside the shops selling onions at Rs 10 per kg were long and winding. While the lines grew longer, the stocks of onion coming in were limited. The Super Bazars at Palam, Trilokpuri and Connaught Place received a collective 12-tonne delivery from NAFED today. Of this, around 100 bags went to the CP outlet and 85 each to the other two.

However, NAFED did not receive stocks for three consecutive days last week. ``Due to heavy rains in the west, none of our trucks from Nasik and Gujarat arrived on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,'' says an official at the Lawrence Road branch of NAFED. ``Otherwise, on an average we get around 10 trucks everyday. We are selling onions at Rs 8 per kg to five government outlets other than our own. Of these, the Super Bazars get the maximum share''.

Subsequently, a number of Kendriya Bhandar outlets have not received stocks for the last few days. ``We haven't got onions on sale,'' says the salesman at the Kasturba Gandhi Marg Kendriya Bhandar. ``It has been two days since we received our stocks. We are hoping that the trucks will come tomorrow''.

The quantity of onions arriving at the Azadpur mandi has also dropped drastically. On September 17 last year, 327 tonnes of onion arrived at the mandi. Only 130 tonnes came in on the same day this year. Arrivals have, thus, dropped by 60.24 per cent.

Similarly, on September 20 last year, 599 tonnes of onion rolled into the mandi, 28.38 per cent more than the quantity received at the same time this year. At a meeting of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee held earlier this month, the weather and the increasing cultivation of menthol by Uttar Pradesh farmers were blamed for the bad crop. Traders predict that ``the prices of onion will be on the higher side and reduce only after October 31''.

The minutes of the meeting also state: ``The farmers of Gujrat and Nasik have a small stock of onion but it depends on them to despatch the onion to the Azadpur mandi''.