A potato and onion shop in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 19: Potato, which was selling at Rs 12 a kilo a fortnight ago, today touched Rs 20 a kg in the retail market.

With the state government yet to explore alternative sources of procuring potato, traders fear it would cross Rs 25 in a day or two as supply was low.

“Today, I bought it for Rs 22 for a kg,” said Baramunda resident Subhadra Mohanty.

After Phailin and floods, potato prices skyrocketed in the state to almost Rs 100 per kg. The situation got aggravated due to a ban on potato supply by the Bengal government. Prices dropped to around Rs 12 a kilo after the Bengal government allowed export of one lakh tonnes of potato to Odisha.

But, the supply stopped from December 16 after the quota of one lakh tonnes was complete and the market has started showing the same kind of signs with the price showing an upward trend.

Secretary of the Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha Sudhakar Panda said the Bengal government stopped further supply of potato to Odisha and detained the Odisha-bound trucks.

“The Bengal government not only stopped the supply, but also detained our trucks loaded with tuber. Unless the government here takes pro-active steps we will suffer like this,” said Panda.

Ajay Biswal, president of the Perishable Goods’ Association in Balasore, said around 400 potato-laden Odisha-bound trucks were stuck between Dantan and Calcutta as the Bengal government was not allowing exports.

A trader said the state could procure potato from states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand if the government wanted. Too much dependency on Bengal has created the problem. Besides the traders are of the view that they could have procured potato from other states, but the people here preferred Bengal tuber.

Sources said Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was shortly going to take a decision on supply of potato to Odisha. Secretary of the state food supply and consumer welfare department Madhusudan Padhee said there was no formal communication from the Bengal government about stopping supply.

“I have heard that some of our trucks have been detained. But, the situation is not that bad to result in price escalation. Yesterday, we had short supply, but today, around 20 trucks have arrived. It is the handiwork of traders, who are responsible for the price rise. We are keeping a watch on the situation. Hopefully arrival of new supplies will reduce the prices,” said Padhee.