Odisha minister slams WB for monopolising potato trade

Odisha's development commissioner is in negotiations with the officials in West Bengal to break the deadlock in potato supplies

With Odisha in the grip of potato crisis, state food supplies minister, Sanjay Dasburma, has hit out at neighbouirng West Bengal, alleging that the top tuber producing state was monopolising transport of the essential food item.

“The West Bengal government is monopolising transportation of potato to Odisha. Due to curbs imposed by it, about 150 potato laden trucks have been stuck at a check gate on the West Bengal-Odisha border. But we have asked National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) to provide potato to meet the demand of consumers,” Dasburma told reporters.

The minister said, the state’s development commissioner is in negotiation with the officials of West Bengal to break the deadlock in potato supplies. Meanwhile, the potato crunch in Odisha has somewhat eased with the arrival of 18 potato laden trucks today from West Bengal.

Potato stock at the cold storages in Odisha is also expected to mitigate the crisis.

“We have about 30,000 quintals of potato at different cold storages in the state. The government has decided to supply potato to people at the rate of Rs 20 per kg through 55 PDS outlets from today,” said Madhusudhan Padhee, secretary, food supplies & consumer welfare.

Padhi, however, said, West Bengal was yet to lift the restriction on potato supplies.

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. Nafed stock is expected to arrive in 4-5 days.

In protest against West Bengal's curbs on potato supplies to Odisha, activists of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) blocked West Bengal-bound trucks from Andhra Pradesh in the bordering area of Jaleswar in Balasore district.

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 2 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.