BALASORE: Durga Puja festivities seem to have made the West Bengal Government magnanimous. In a newborn spirit of generosity, Bengal Government, after a month long dilly-dallying, has decided to relax the ban on potato supply to Odisha from Monday.
Sources said potato traders of Bengal have been allowed to export 1,600 tonnes of the tuber to Odisha and Jharkhand per day. As there is no restriction on the quantity to be transported to Odisha, traders said they can supply the tuber as per the requirement. Earlier, the Bengal Government had allowed the traders to export 1,100 tonnes of potato per day to Odisha and Jharkhand till Durga Puja through two check posts at Danton in West Midnapore and Chirkunda along Jharkhand border under South Bengal.
Welcoming the decision, advisor of West Bengal’s Progressive Potato Traders’ Association (PPTA) Dillip Pratihar said there will be no crisis of potato in the markets in neighbouring States and the price is also expected to come down within a day or two. “Of 1,600 tonnes of potatoes, 1,100 tonnes are for retail markets and 500 tonnes for cold storages which can be used later after the stocks are exhausted. More than 300 truckloads of potatoes have been dispatched after the announcement and the quantum is likely to increase further,” he said.
Even as potato supply has been streamlined, the price is yet to decline in retail markets. With the State Government closing down all PDS counters where potato was sold at `20 per kg, the tuber is now sold at `25 to `28 in retail market.
Traders alleged that police are taking huge amount of bribe to allow potato-laden trucks to pass through the check posts thereby increasing the transportation cost. “We are paying `30,000 to `50,000 bribe to police per truck to get our vehicles released,” alleged a trader.
President of Perishable Goods Association Ajay Kumar Biswal said the price can only decrease if the flow of potato trucks is maintained regularly and the police posted for patrolling along Bengal routes do not demand bribes.
A cop posted at Dantun police station said they release potato trucks after checking the permits issued by Agriculture Department. Others are held back and the stock returned to cold storages, he added.