‘Rotten’ potato plan backfires,prices shoot up

“Earlier,we were buying potatoes from the government retail counters. But after taking it home,we found half of them were rotten. We could not even sort out the stock while buying. So if we get good quality potatoes at Rs 15 per kg,there is no point buying the rotten ones at Rs 13 per kg,” said Amalendu Biswas,a buyer in the Bhowanipore market.

P S Kathiresan,principal secretary,food and supplies department and food commissioner,said: “We did not ask Essential Commodity Supply Corporation (ECSC) staff to stop people from sorting out the crop. There is no such policy decision. If this is really happening,we will look into the matter.”

A senior official of the agriculture department conceded that the government initiative initially received a good response but there has been a sharp fall in sales oflate. “The quality of the crop procured by the ECSC is the problem,” he said. “Most of our buyers are opting for the potatoes available in the open market which is why the sellers there do not bother to cut prices,” he added.

The official said the price of potato should not cross the limit of Rs 9.50 per kg as the state has produced around 55 lakh metric tonnes as against its requirement of 52 lakh metric tonnes.

Meanwhile,Patit Paban Dey,the vice-chairman of the All Bengal Cold Storage Association,said,“Around 33 lakh metric tonnes of potato have been stored. There is no scope for holding more. Around 38 per cent of the stock has been already released.”

The ECSC officials,however,claimed they are still getting a good response at the retail counters. But,when asked why it had procured only around 20 quintals in the second week of the government retail counters as against 77 quintals in the first week,B P Barat,managing director of the ECSC,said: “ Since potato is a perishable crop and it is rainy season,we cannot stock the crop properly. So we are not procuring the crop in huge quantities.”

Sanatan Santra,the president of the co-operative of potato sellers,said: “The state has intentionally brought the crop under the list of essential commodities though it cannot do so as potato is a perishable crop and the ECSC does not have any infrastructure to store perishable crops.”

Left without price hike issue,CPM braces for Mamata onslaught
The Trinamool Congress,which is a part of the UPA government at the Centre,has started to encircle the Left Front government in the state on the issue of rising food prices — an issue which is raised by the Marxists against the Centre regularly.

From July 25,the Trinamool will launch an agitation in all the blocks on the price rise issue. With price of potatoes showing no signs of scaling down,Trinamool leaders allege that local CPM leaders are involved in hoarding of the vegetable. The state’s requirement for potato is estimated at 52 mt per annum and last year the production was 56 mt,so there was no reason for a gap in the demand and supply unless it is artificially created,they added. “We will expose this through our agitation against price hike,” said Trinamool leader Partho Chatterjee.

The agitation will not be limited to price hike as the Trinamool plans to campaign against the state government for increasing misery of rural poor. “Our supporters will hold rallies and submit deputations to the administration demanding raids against hoarding of essential commodities,” said Trinamool leader Sobhan Deb Chatterjee.

The ruling Left Front government is already feeling the heat. In spite of efforts to sell potato at a cheaper rate,the price of the vegetable remains high. Caught in the backfoot,the CPM leaders are blaming the Centre for the rise in prices of food. “It is the central government which is responsible for price hike. Mamata Banerjee is a party to the Union government,so she is also responsible for this,” said Md. Salim,former CPM MP.

CPM sources said that the party state committee has already asked its ranks to submit deputations to BDOs and SDOs on various issues,which includes price hike. But it failed to work properly because party cadres are “demoralised” after the party’s electoral debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. “Our cadres are not responding adequately to a call for an agitation against price hike. Our grassroots committees are engaged in solving other organisational bickering. So the Trinamool may achieve some success with a sustained agitation against price hike,” said a CPM leader.