BHUBANESWAR: With the fear of cyclone triggering panic buying among the public in the coastal districts and complaints of hoarding and black-marketing of essential commodities beginning to emerge, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra on Tuesday had a face-off with traders’ associations on the issue.
Even as Patra held a meeting with representatives of traders’ bodies over the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, it turned to be an exchange of accusations.
While representatives of retail and wholesale trade associations in the city said the surge in prices was the outcome of panic buying and refuted allegations of hoarding, Patra warned that the intelligence wing of the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department is keeping a close watch on the market and unscrupulous trade practices will not be tolerated.
A member of the Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha said the traders were being unnecessarily blamed for the situation. He alleged that a Central government agency like National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) is making profit by selling onions when its mandate is to stabilise prices through market intervention. “NAFED is buying onions at Rs 35 a kg and selling at Rs 45 but the state government has remained silent,” he said.
The Mahasangha representative further said that the government did nothing when the state faced acute crisis of potatoes due to non-cooperation of West Bengal. The traders took all the pain to tackle the crisis situation when repeated requests of the Odisha government went unheeded by the neighbouring state, he said.
Meanwhile, panic buying continued in the markets leading to an unprecedented surge in prices of all vegetables including potato and onion. In Twin City, tomatoes were sold at Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg while prices of other vegetables such as beans, brinjal, ladyfinger and cauliflower went up by Rs 10 to Rs 20 per kilogram. There was a great rush in the vegetable markets for the second day as consumers sought to stock up on essential items like chuda (flattened rice) and candles in anticipation of the cyclone.