KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to PM Narendra Modi on increasing price of staple vegetables and requested the Centre to intervene.
Opposing the recently made farm laws, Mamata, in a four-page letter, said the new rules are encouraging hoarders and resulting in price rise and suffering of consumers.
She alleged that the enactments were hurriedly made without discussion and consultation with the states. Mamata said, "The adverse impact of these new central acts on the farmers and consumers in terms of availability of essential agricultural commodities and their prices is already visible now."
The CM said the new acts are also encouraging hoarding of onion and potato and profiteering. "Our worst apprehensions in this regard seem to be already coming true. The essential vegetables such as potato and onion are out of bounds for common people and there are no signs to regulate them,’’ she wrote.
Onion price in Bengal has soared up to Rs 80 per kg while potato price is between Rs 35 and Rs 40 per kg.
Mamata further claimed that the central acts have effectively usurped the powers of the state government in facilitating the supply, distribution, and sale of essential food items to common people and regulating unscrupulous market forces that encourage hoarding and profiteering. Only the central government now has the power to regulate these farm products, she added.
Requesting the Centre to intervene, she wrote, "In view of the seriousness of the matter, I would urge the central government to urgently step in to control hoarding and to increase supply to bring down the rising prices of essential commodities. Otherwise, the Centre should restore the power of state governments for exercising control over the production, supply, distribution and sale of agricultural commodities."