Potato crisis resurfaces as WB halts transportation

This is one problem which refuses to go. With the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal putting fresh restrictions on shipment of potato from that state, the availability of tuber in the Odisha market has plummeted yet again. This time, the authorities in the neighboring state have halted road transportation of potato to Odisha via the Laxmannath check gate from yesterday..

The supply disruption has already influenced the vegetable rates in the retail market.

At key markets of Bhubaneswar, the tuber variety is sold at Rs 28-30 per kilogram, up from Rs 24-26 a kg last week. However, at wholesale markets, the rates are hovering aroundRs 18-22 a kg.

Meanwhile, the Potato Traders Federation of West Bengal has given a call for a three-day strike beginning September 1 to protest their state government's decision of not to allow export of potato to other states including Odisha.

An office bearer of the Federation said, the West Bengal government's decision of not to allow sale of potato outside West Bengal has resulted in heavy losses for the potato traders and hence, the resolution to hold the protest dharna.

Odisha buys potato mostly from West Bengal and onion from Maharashtra. The rates of both the vegetable have gone up across the country due to supply problems.

Uttar Pradesh is the top producer of the tuber variety in the country and Bihar is placed third behind West Bengal.

Odisha largely imports more than 80 per cent of its annual 900,000 tonne potato requirement from West Bengal. The potato supply has been affected over the past few weeks, when the West Bengal government banned selling of the vegetable to traders outside the state in order to maintain the local price equilibrium.

Though the ban has been lifted officially, restrictions by the West Bengal government are still imposed time and again on potato transportation.