Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: After the hue and cry over the steep hike in potato prices getting shriller, the state government Monday washed its hands of the crisis by blaming the weather and saying the rise of prices of essential commodities is a national phenomenon.
A high-level coordination meeting held at the secretariat here took a few decisions to contain the spiralling price of potato. Agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy, cooperation minister Damodar Rout, food supply and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma and senior officials of the three departments attended this meeting.
“It is not only in the state… the price of essential commodities is being seen across the nation. In Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, potato is being sold at per-kg prices ranging between Rs 14 and Rs 20. The price here is Rs 16 per kg. The weather did not help potato cultivation this season,” said Rout to journalists.
The state had produced about 2.5 lakh MT of potato from plantation on 15,000 hectares last year. Maharathy said potato is being cultivated on 25,500 hectares of land this year and that total production could be about 3 lakh MT.
Despite launching Potato Mission and Potato Buffer Stock Scheme last year, the state government has failed to raise production anywhere close to the state’s annual requirement of 11 lakh MT. The state is currently staring at a massive scarcity of potato in the coming months.
A joint survey conducted by the officials of Markfed, horticulture and cooperation at the ground level had found that only 400 MT of potatoes were available in the state. Since the Centre has not declared any minimum support price (MSP) for potato, the state has no mechanism to regulate price in the open market.
Maharathy said the state government will send a team of officials to West Bengal to assess the market situation there and further steps would be taken afterwards to procure potato from other states. Das Burma said the district collectors have been asked to have a close watch on the market and announce the price of potato in the market every evening. “The traders have been asked to display the price chart at their shops,” he said.
The collectors have also been instructed to track the source price, the wholesale price and the retail price of potato by verifying bills and vouchers of traders and ensure the gap between wholesale price and retail price remains within Rs 3 per kg, said Das Burma.
The collectors have also been directed to take action against hoarders and black marketers under the provisions of Orissa Declaration of Stocks and Price of Essential Commodities Order, 1973 and Orissa Potato & Onion (Storage Control) Order, 2015.
The state government plans to complete the construction of 46 cold storages in the state at the earliest. While work at 19 cold storages is in progress, six cold storages were inaugurated recently.