 "Odisha's potato crisis over, says minister")
The potato crisis in Odisha has been resolved and prices of the tuber are likely to return to the normal level in 2-3 days since the West Bengal government has allowed movement of potato laden trucks to the state, said minister for food supplies & consumer welfare Sanjay Dasburma.
"The West Bengal government has allowed movement of potato laden trucks stuck at its border from 11 am today. While some trucks have already reached several places, including Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, other trucks will reach at the remaining destinations soon", he said.
The imbroglio ended after chief minister Naveen Patnaik talked to his West Bengal counterpart Mamta Banerjee over the phone on Friday on the potato crisis, the minister said.
West Bengal imposing curbs on the movement of potato laden trucks had triggered a crisis with the tuber getting out of reach of the common man. Prices of the essential commodity had skyrocketed to Rs 40-50 a kg from the normal retail price of Rs 20 per kg. The restriction in potato trade had led to around 150 tuber laden trucks getting stuck at a check gate on the West Bengal-Odisha border.
Retaliating against West Bengal's curbs on potato supplies to Odisha, activists of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday blocked West Bengal-bound trucks carrying fish and vegetables from Andhra Pradesh in the bordering area of Jaleswar in Balasore district.
After a review meeting, Dasburma informed that potato to be provided by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) would reach the state by Wednesday.
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State run Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) is procuring potatoes from Kanpur through Nafed for six major cities- Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur.
To tackle the potato crisis, the Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare department has issued instructions to all district collectors.
"Potatoes available with the wholesalers at present may be procured at reasonable price and these may be sold through select PDS outlets in the district, Maitree shops or chains like Udyan Fresh outlets at Rs two above the cost price. If there is a cold storage with potato in your district, you may take stock of availability of potato in the cold storage immediately. The release of potato from the cold storages to market may be regulated till the situation improves", secretary, Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Padhi wrote to all district collectors.
The district collectors have also been asked to keep a close watch on the unscrupulous traders who want to benefit from the crisis. Such unscrupulous traders may be booked under Essential Commodities Act since potato has now been declared an essential commodity by the Government of India, Padhi stated.
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