File picture of potatoes being sold at a market in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar/Balasore, Aug. 9: The potato-laden trucks held up on Odisha-Bengal border today started moving into the state following the Bengal government’s nod.

The movement of trucks began after 11am. The Bengal government allowed the trucks to enter Odisha after chief minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday had a discussion with his counterpart, Mamata Banerjee, food and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Dasbarma said.

Bengal officials had detained over 270 potato-loaded Odisha-bound trucks at Sunakania, while many more trucks had been held at cold storages at Gadbeta and Chandrakona, the major potato-producing areas of Bengal.

“Some trucks have already reached their destinations in Odisha, while others will reach by tomorrow morning. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have so far received four and six trucks of potato, respectively, while Angul, Puri, Balasore, Berhampur have got one each. By tomorrow, enough potato will be available in the state,” said Dasbarma, who had also sought the Centre’s intervention to resolve the shortage.

BJD activists in Balasore district had also detained a large number of Bengal-bound trucks loaded with edibles such as egg, fish, banana, other fruits and vegetable coming from Andhra Pradesh, but these vehicles were allowed to leave for their destinations after 11am today as the problem headed towards resolution. These trucks had been stranded on the NH-60 near Lakshmannath check gate since Thursday evening and the vehicles’ queue extended nearly 10km up to Rajghat.

Police in Balasore were ensuring that the trucks entering Odisha reached their destinations without any hitch. They are providing security to the Bengal-bound trucks till they cross the border.

Jaleswar MLA Aswani Patra (BJD), who had led detention of the Bengal-bound trucks on the border, said the blockade had been lifted. “We are informed that the dispute between two states has been resolved following government-level talks. There would now be usual free flow of potato from Bengal to Odisha. On receiving the clearance, we called off our agitation and the vehicles are being allowed to go to Bengal,” he said.

After potato vanished from the markets in the state on Thursday, the government tried to bring the situation under control by releasing stocks from the cold storages, which were sold at fair price shops at reasonable rates. In Bhubaneswar, potato was sold at 60 such counters, while in Cuttack, 50 outlets were opened.

Dasbarma said potato procured through National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Fedration of India Limited would also reach the state by Wednesday bringing down the prices. He also said the state government would prepare an action plan to counter such emergencies in future. “On Monday, we will have a meeting with the supply department officials and chalk out an action plan. We will ensure that such situation will not arise in the future,” said the minister.