Chandigarh, Aug 29 (IANS): With onion prices hitting the Rs.80 per kg mark and more, the Haryana government has ordered the purchase of 1,000 tonnes of onions for sale to the state's people at Rs.35 per kg.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed the Haryana Agriculture Federation (Hafed) to place an indent with the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) for the purchase of onions at a rate not exceeding Rs.30 per kg, a state government spokesman said here on Saturday.

"The chief minister has also approved a number of decisions to check the increasing prices of onions and regarding its import," the spokesman said.

"It has been decided that onions would be sold for Rs.35 per kg through Hafed co-operative societies and milk booths of the dairy development department," he said.

The central government is likely to import 10,000 tonnes of onions through Nafed to improve the domestic availability and manage the rising prices of onions.

The central government has drawn flak in recent weeks with onion prices hitting the Rs.80 per kg mark in most parts of the country.

The price rise was attributed to new onion stocks not coming into the market owing to erratic weather conditions in Maharashtra and other onion-producing states.