West Bengal restricts potato supply to Odisha; potato price reaches Rs 50 per kg
BHUBANESWAR: With West Bengal restricting supply of potatoes to Odisha, price of the essential tuber reached Rs 50 per kg in the state. Trucks carrying potatoes were prevented from crossing the border by West Bengal police which slowed supply to wholesalers in the state.
Waking up to the crisis, the Odisha government on Friday said that the price is likely to stabilise in a day or two and assured there is enough stock available.
Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, who reviewed the situation warned of stringent action against hoarders and asked retailers not to sell potatoes beyond Rs 32 per kg. If required, the tuber will be procured from Uttar Pradesh, he added.
“We have spoken to the officials concerned in West Bengal who assured that movement of potato trucks will be streamlined within a day or two. We are also in talks with the UP government to procure potatoes, if the need arises,” he said.
Earlier in the day, he visited wholesale potato godowns in Aiginia. As the potato price rose sharply, the tuber found itself in the midst of a political drama after Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik shot off a letter to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee seeking her intervention in the matter.
“Trucks loaded with potatoes are waiting in long queues at the West Bengal-Odisha border. On similar occasions earlier, your noble gesture had earned the love and affection of our people,” the former CM wrote, seeking Mamata’s intervention.
The letter, though, did not go down well with the state BJP. Blaming the former BJD government’s Potato Mission failure for the crisis, the saffron party said Naveen continues with his habit of shrugging off responsibility by writing letters. Even after two decades of BJD being in power, Odisha continues to depend upon other states for essential food items, it added.
Party spokesperson Dilip Mohanty said Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has already directed the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister to take immediate action against black marketers. “The state government is taking concrete measures to solve the problems and results will be visible soon,” he said.
The crisis started a week back when potato traders of the neighbouring state went on strike protesting harassment by Bengal government which had reportedly restricted movement of potatoes to other states to regulate its price. Even as the strike was called off on Wednesday, trucks carrying potatoes were not being allowed to cross West Bengal, said secretary of Aiginia wholesale market Shakti Mishra.
On average, Odisha procures 100 to 150 trucks of potatoes from West Bengal every day with each truck carrying 16 to 25 tonne of the tuber.
The issue was also raised in the Assembly on the day by Balasore MLA Manas Dutta.