Violence flared up in three locations on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town on Thursday as hundreds of potato farmers, who crowded in front of cold storages to collect bonds to store their produce, resorted to protests over alleged anomalies in the distribution of bonds.
Protesters ransacked a cold storage, torched the office of a weigh bridge and damaged it, pelted stones and blocked roads, demanding that all farmers should get adequate bonds to store their produce.
There are four cold storages on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town and 20 in all in the district. Of the four near the town, two are near 73 More, a prominent crossing, and the other two are at Rahutbagan and Bahadur. Thursday’s protests were reported from mainly the one in Bahadur, one of the cold storages near 72 More and the one in Rahutbagan.
Cold storage bonds are distributed to farmers on first-come, first-serve basis, depending on demand. The charge depends on factors such as demand that year, the number of months a farmer stores his harvest, among others.
The demand for bonds has risen this year because while the 20 cold storages in Jalpaiguri can store 3.2 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes, around 11.5 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes have been harvested in the district this year.