Potato supply problem to continue till Wednesday, says Govt

The state government today said even as it has arranged to procure potatoes from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to meet the scarcity of this vegetable, the short supply in markets will continue till Wednesday, when the trucks are expected to reach the state. "Since the West Bengal government delayed in responding to our request, we have arranged to procure potatoes from other states. We have talked to the traders' associations too to import potatoes from Bihar and Kanpur (UP). The crisis may continue for three more days till the vehicles reach here," said food and civil supplies minister Pratap Keshari Deb, adding, "Trucks have already left Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for Odisha."

The state government is also taking steps to release potatoes stored in cold storages of Rayagada and Koraput district to mitigate the crisis, he said.

Uttar Pradesh is the top producer of the tuber variety in the country with Bihar being the third biggest producer behind West Bengal. Odisha largely imports more than 80 per cent of its annual 900,000 tonne potato requirement from neighbouring state West Bengal. The potato supply has been affected since last week, when West Bengal banned selling of the vegetable outside the state in order to maintain local price there at Rs 13 a kg.

Though Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik called Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee requesting her to resume potato supply to the state, it has not yielded desired result yet.

The state government has initiated steps to release potatoes stored in cold storages and has been selling it at Rs 22 a kg at state-supported retail vegetable stores, but it is being rationed at one kg per person. Traders said, though potato carrying trucks would reach the state in next 2-3 days, the rates , currently hovering around Rs 40 a kg in the market, would not come down substantially, until supplies from West Bengal are restored.

Odisha Traders' Association said, the West Bengal government is going to conduct a meeting on Monday to discuss about the situation. The cold storages and traders in the neighbouring state have called for three day strike in protest against ban on selling potatoes outside West Bengal, pushing potato price there to Rs 25 a kg.

"We are expecting positive results out of tomorrow's meeting convened by the West Bengal government. Hope things will be better soon," said Sudhakar Panda, secretary of the Odisha Traders' Association.