Odisha potato crisis: Traders seek early solutions

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sept 9:

A delegation of the Odisha Traders’ Federation and Aiginia Kuberpuri Traders’ Association met the commissioner-cum-secretary, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, Madhusudan Padhi on Monday afternoon and sought his early intervention to resolve the stalemate following the undeclared restrictions imposed on supply of potato to Odisha by the West Bengal government.

The delegation informed Padhi that the import of potato from other states to Odisha has drastically come down due to the restrictions by the West Bengal government, atrocities by the Bengal police and arbitrary taxation by Regulated Market Committees (RMC) of Odisha.

Stating that the Odisha traders are deeply concerned over thr drastic fall in the quantity of potato supply from West Bengal and rampant black marketing forcing consumers to buy the kitchen essential at a higher rate, the delegation urged Padhi to explore alternative ways of tiding over the crisis.

The delegation also requested him to have a meeting with the West Bengal government officials for a permanent solution that can ensure uninterrupted import of potato.

Padhi told the delegation that the government has taken steps to normalize the situation as soon as possible.

However, market experts feel the government has done precious little to address the problem effectively and that has resulted in the huge rise in the price of potato in the Odisha market over the last several weeks.