Some Relief For Odisha As Bengal Govt Allows ‘Conditional Potato Export’ To Other States

Bhubaneswar/Kolkata: Potato price is expected to drop and supply normalise in Odisha with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee approving export of potatoes up to 2 lakh tonnes to other states in a week.

The potato traders in Bengal ended their strike on Tuesday and promised seamless unloading from cold storages across Bengal after Mamata allowed supply of potatoes to neighbouring states on the consideration that there will be no shortage of the spud there and the prices will not rise.

The decision was taken at a review meeting held in the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’, where various stakeholders were present. “In today’s meeting, the chief minister agreed to allow the export of up to two lakh metric tonnes of potatoes in a week. One lakh metric tonnes can be exported from North Bengal and another one lakh from South Bengal. However, the neighbouring states must first raise a demand,” Agri-Marketing Minister Becharam Manna told PTI.

Mamata is expected t0 review the situation after seven days and will give necessary instructions, if any.

The West Bengal government restricted export of the tuber to other states following spiralling of potato prices in June. Irked with the decision, West Bengal Pragatishil Alu Byabsayee Samiti (WBPABS) went on strike for five days that month, demanding the opening of an export window for potatoes in the state. It again gave an indefinite strike call with effect from Monday alleging that police have been stopping them from exporting to the neighbouring states even after assurance of allowing the same at a meeting held on August 8.

Meanwhile in Odisha….

The frequent disruptions in supply from West Bengal has hit Odisha consumers hard. The Bengal government did not lift the restrictions despite repeated requests by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to Mamata Banerjee.

On Tuesday, a joint team of officials of food supplies and consumer welfare department and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted surprise checks to find out if vendors are selling at a higher price or hoarding.

The state government’s decision to sell potatoes at Rs 35 per kg to control the surge in prices has, however, not gone down well with the vendors here, who claim that they are facing huge losses as the quality of tuber supplied is poor. Potatoes are now being sold at Rs 40 per kg in city markets.

The government decided to import potato from UP to reduce dependence on Bengal. Amid reluctance of potato wholesalers of the state to buy potatoes from UP due to high transportation cost and chances of the vegetable getting damaged by rain, the state also decided to procure the tuber from the northern state by train.