With West Bengal unable to meet its demand for potatoes, the Odisha government is planning to get the tubers from distant Punjab to ensure that people in the state do not have to strain their budget. According to Odisha Food Supplies Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, potatoes were selling in the state at Rs 45 to Rs 50 per kilogram even after it was procured from Uttar Pradesh to ensure reduction in the prices of the staple in many households.
The cost of potatoes shot up in Odisha as neighbouring West Bengal could not meet its total requirement. It is not that potatoes from UP are not good in quality or that the tubers from West Bengal are of better variety, he said.
It may be recalled that Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi recently where he had put forward the state’s demand for potatoes.
But, despite supplies from West Bengal, Odisha continued to face shortage prompting the state to explore the possibility of getting the commodity from Punjab to ensure its smooth supply in the state. Reports say that a strike by the owners of cold storage in West Bengal had thrown a spanner in the supply of potatoes.
