With neighbouring West Bengal restricting movement of trucks carrying potato to Odisha, the state government today requested Nafed (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd) to supply 3,000 quintal of tubers.
"We have requested the Nafed to supply 3,000 quintal of potato to Odisha from Kanpur and other places," Odisha Food and Supplies Minister Sanjay Dasburma told reporters after the state government reviewed the situation created due to scarcity of potato in the state markets.
Stating that Chief Secretary G C Pati would take up the matter with his West Bengal counterpart regarding stopping potato supply, Dasburma said the state government was not aware about the reason behind such an action.
Odisha, which daily needs about 4,000 quintal of potato, meets its requirement mostly from West Bengal. However, about 250 truck load of potato were detained by the West Bengal Police at the border yesterday, an official said.
With the stop of potato transportation, a kg of tuber was sold at Rs 40 in the markets here today.
