Cuttack:The district Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare officials Wednesday conducted raids at different shops and godowons just hours after Odisha Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Surya Narayan Patro yesterday said that potato wholesalers in Cuttack cannot stock more than 500 quintals.
A team comprising five officials of the Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare conducted raids and checked whether the wholesalers maintain proper quantity.
The team also carried out raids at some shops in the daily market to ascertain the quantity and the price. The shopkeepers were asked not to sell potato at a price more than the prescribed one.
Earlier Wednesday Odisha Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Surya Narayan Patro had said, “Cuttack potato wholesalers are allowed to stock maximum of 500 quintals each. Those in Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Puri are allowed to stock a maximum of 350 quintals each. Similarly the wholesalers of rest of the areas are permitted to stock a maximum of 150 quintals each.
If a trader is found having a stock of more than the stipulated quantity, stringent action would be taken against him, he warned.
Earlier the State Government had ordered in a fax message circulated to all District Collectors, “Keep a close watch on the availability and arrival of potato in the market and ensure availability of the same to the consumers at a reasonable price. If required, action may be taken against the hoarders and unscrupulous traders under the provision of Essential Commodities Act, 1955.”
“The Collectors of the border districts are requested to ensure that flow of potato from the producing States to the State of Odisha is not disrupted,” the Food Supplies Commissioner-cum-Secretary V.V. Yadav had instructed in the message.
The collectors have also been instructed to intimate the State Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department about the action taken against the illegal traders.
