No potato crisis in West Bengal, says minister

The minister said the government would hold another round of discussion with potato traders once CM Mamata Banerjee returns from Singapore

There is no crisis regarding availability of potato in the state now, West Bengal Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said today. "There is no crisis of potato in the state. We have checked several markets and have found that the situation is absolutely normal everywhere," Mallick said on the sidelines of the India International Rice Conference here.

The amount of potato released by the state government in the market has helped normalise the potato crisis situation in the state, he claimed.

The minister said the government would hold another round of discussion with potato traders once Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee returns from Singapore.

"Let the chief minister return. Then we would hold another round of meeting with the potato traders," he said. Potato price in the open market has increased sharply in the past few weeks, following which the state government banned export of potato to other states and countries while traders have been opposing the move.

The state administration has made arrangements for sale of the seized tubers in local markets at the government regulated price of Rs 14 per kg (Jyoti variety).