Patna, Dec. 21: Amit Ranjan and his friends have suddenly lost their appetite for tandoori chicken. The spicy onion slices that go with the green chutney have been replaced by cucumber and radish.

With prices of onion skyrocketing, most city restaurants have been forced to take it out of the delicacies on the menu. While in retail markets the onions are priced at Rs 60 per kg, in posh localities like Boring Road and Patliputra, the price has touched Rs 65 per kg.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar said: “The Centre has failed to check price rise, especially of onions. The onion prices would come down once local markets start supplying onions.”

Locally, onions are produced in areas like Jehanabad, Hilsa, Bikram, Fatuha, Danapur, Hajipur and Patna City.

The rising prices that have affected the lives of the common man made deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi issue a statement today. He said the state government would strictly deal with blackmarketeers and dealers who are selling onions at a price higher than the market price.

Modi said: “The prices of onion and potato are not controlled by the state government. The price of onion has gone up because of crop failure in the Nasik region in Maharashtra, which is the largest producer of onions in India.”

Most city restaurants are not serving onion with the salads. They are only giving onion in salad on demand by customers, at a higher rate. Pravin Sehgal, who runs Surbhi Dhaba on SP Verma Road, said: “We have removed onion from our salad because of the steep rise in its price. We are supplementing onion with carrot and radish in the salad.”

“Once the price comes down to Rs 20-25 per kg, onions would again be served,” added Sehgal.

Sehgal also said: “Most of our regular customers have stopped ordering starters as we have almost stopped giving onions with them.”

Indian dishes are a long shot. Even preparing Chinese food has become a challenge in the kitchen, Sehgal said.

Brajkishore Prasad, an onion wholeseller in the Anta Ghat area, said onion prices are set to make people teary-eyed till January 15 when supplies would start coming in from Bengal and north Bihar. “Once onion supply from Adra and Howrah in Bengal, Mahuwa in north Bihar, Patna City, Digha, Danapur and diara areas begin from January 15, the prices would automatically come down,” said Prasad. The price would also go up to Rs 100-Rs120 during Christmas, Prasad added.

Sudha Sinha, a homemaker buying onions at Anta Ghat market, said: “I have stopped buying onions for some days. Luckily, we had stocked up onions earlier.”

Mohammed Rafiq, another wholesale dealer at Bazaar Samiti, said: “The supply of onions has been less after crop failure in Nasik. Earlier, more than 100 trucks used to supply onions. Now, hardly 10 to 15 trucks reach the markets.” Rafiq added earlier at least three to four railway racks were also required to supply onions each week. For two weeks, this has completely stopped and only trucks are supplying onions.

Gopi Dey, the owner of Vimal da Restaurant on Exhibition Road, said: “Normally, we need 40kg of onions each day. We have cut down the consumption by 30 per cent. Indian cuisine is mostly based on onion, so we feel bad to disappoint our customers. But we don’t have any choice.”