Potatoes for Rs 13 but rotten - No option to choose spuds at govt fixed price

Basket of the spuds that cost Rs 30 a kg iin Siliguri

TT, Nov. 5: Several rotten spuds will fall into the bag if you want potato at Rs 13 a kg in Siliguri. The green grocer will not let you take your pick.

A basket of gnarled potatoes that cost Rs 13 a kg 
Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

“Depending on the price, you get a chance to pick and choose potatoes. If anyone is buying the tero takar alu, or potatoes selling at Rs 13, the buyer won’t get the option of choosing. He will have to accept whatever the seller gives him after weighing,” said Anjan Sarkar, a resident of Siliguri.

“If you buy the newly harvested potatoes of north Bengal or those brought in from Bhutan, which are being at Rs 30-35 a kg, you have the right to choose,” the bank employee said.

Ever since shortage of potatoes was reported across the state, with north Bengal being an exception, a number of initiatives has been taken by the district administrations to ensure that people get potatoes at Rs 13 a kg, fixed by the government. The wholesale price has been fixed at Rs 11 a kg.

“The reality, however, is different. Potatoes sold at that price (Rs 13 a kg) are available only in a few outlets, unlike the way it is sold at all municipal markets across Calcutta,” Dhiren Lama, a Jalpaiguri resident said. “Here, it is mostly the regulated markets, most of which are on the outskirts,” he added.

“In retail markets, potatoes are hardly available against the fixed price. Most traders are selling newly harvested potatoes, that too at a higher rate like Rs 30 or so a kg. They are saying potatoes harvested earlier and kept in cold storages were not available and for that reason, they are not being able to sell them at the rate fixed by the state,” Lama said.

In Malda, too, the scene is the same.

“Only a few shops are selling potatoes at Rs 13 a kg but you cannot choose. If you can pay Rs 18 or Rs 20 a kg, you can choose the potatoes,” said Ratan Saha, a Malda resident.

Malda district magistrate G. Kirankumar has convened a meeting with cold storage owners and potato merchants to know about the stock. “The idea is to tide over the crisis and get stored potatoes into the market so that people get them at the fixed rate of Rs 13 a kg. We are keeping a watch to see that potatoes are not sold at higher prices,” he said.

Retail vegetable sellers have devised a strategy.

“They are keeping potatoes at the rate of Rs 13 a kg, which are mostly rotten or damaged, and beside that they are displaying the good spuds and selling those at higher rates,” said Nisith Das, a schoolteacher in Raiganj.

Today in Dhupguri, the district agricultural marketing department of Jalpaiguri and representatives of the local vegetable vendors’ association sold potatoes at Rs 13 a kg from a counter at the regulated market.

“We will sell around 5.5 quintal at Rs 13 a kg. The sale would continue for a week and would be held in places like Malbazar and Jalpaiguri,” Subrata Dey, the district agricultural marketing officer of Jalpaiguri said.

“We had taken a similar initiative in Alipurduar and we would ensure that the maximum portion of stored potatoes is sold at the fixed price.”