Potato Shortage Hits Odisha, Prices Surge to Rs 50 per Kilo

 Bhubaneswar: Potato has almost gone missing from major markets in Odisha, resulting in hoarders selling the essential commodity at exorbitant prices. No trucks of potato stock reportedly reached the Chhatrabazar market in Cuttack city. As a result, the price of the kitchen essential touched Rs 50 per kilo in the city on Tuesday. Not only Cuttack, potato stock also vanished in Bhubaneswar godowns. For the last three days, no potato consignment has reached at Aiginia godown in the city, informed Odisha Traders’ Association secretary Sudharkar Panda.

“We have not received potato stock from West Bengal and they are not allowing trucks to enter Odisha as they are demanding bribes. The potato stock from Uttar Pradesh has not come either in the past few days. If the supply chain of the commodity continues to remain disrupted, the current crisis will further aggravate. Whatever potato consignment is arriving, they are coming after paying bribes to the anti-socials at the border," said a potato trader.

“As potato-loaded trucks are getting stranded on the borders, we have sustained a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh and the product is getting damaged due to delay. There would be a potato crisis in the next few days if no stock arrives in Odisha,” said the trader.

Earlier, the Odisha government had claimed that it would procure potatoes from Uttar Pradesh after West Bengal adopted a non-cooperation stand. Apart from this, the government also claimed that it was also exploring options to procure potatoes from Punjab as well.

Even though Odisha has turned to Uttar Pradesh to tide over the potato crisis, the price fluctuation still remains a major concern for consumers in the state. State food supplies and consumer welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra had on Monday said that efforts were on to regulate the prices.

“The only permanent solution to tide over the potato crisis is that we need to start our own production. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has announced plans to build 58 cold storages in all subdivisions for storing potatoes produced in our state. He (the CM) has also announced that farmers will be encouraged to take up potato cultivation on a grand scale,” said Patra.

He added, “Currently, the price rise of potatoes is a national phenomenon. Everybody usually gets potatoes at cheap rates during the production season.”

While refuting reports that the potato stocks from Uttar Pradesh are getting damaged early, the minister stated that the quality of potatoes which are being imported from Uttar Pradesh are far better than those procured from West Bengal.

“As traders are used to procure potatoes from West Bengal, such statements are coming now,” said the minister.