Enough vegetable stock: Bengal Govt Buying spree leaves shops out of stock

Locals stand in a queue to buy daily essentials before lock down amid rising concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, in Calcutta on Monday, March 23 (PTI)

Kinsuk Basu, TT,  24.03.20, Calcutta: The Mamata Banerjee government said on Monday there was no reason to panic over availability of vegetables, including potatoes and onions, as there was enough to meet the state’s need.

Agricultural marketing department officials said Bengal had around 95 lakh tonnes of potatoes, compared with the yearly requirement of 70 lakh tonnes. “The stock is enough to last till December,” an official said.

The state has six lakh tonnes of onions. More will arrive in another two weeks and officials said the stock will exceed the usual demand.

“There is no reason to panic. We have adequate stock of vegetables, including potatoes and onions,” said Pradip Kumar Majumder, the chief advisor to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on agricultural marketing. “Necessary instructions have been sent to all district magistrates to facilitate transportation of vegetables from the districts.”

The assurance came on a day people across Calcutta bought potatoes and onions in huge quantities, preparing for the lockdown that kicked in around 5pm, leaving many shops out of stock.

“I usually need a kilo of potatoes for my family of three. Today, I bought 5kg from Lake Market. I won’t step out till Friday,” said Gautam Manna, a resident of Chetla.

“I had a stock of 60kg of potatoes and 40kg of onions,” said Ajoy Das, a vegetable vendor near Kasba New Market. “That should have lasted at least two days but it was all over by 2pm.”

Vendors in Gariahat, Lake Market, Ballygunge and Kasba said they couldn’t replenish their stock because of Sunday’s “Janata Curfew”.

The prices of some vegetables shot up on Monday as supplies from the wholesale vegetable hubs did not reach the retail markets. Across pockets in Maniktala, Belgachhia, Dum Dum, Behala and Tollygunge, potatoes sold between Rs 28 and Rs 30 a kg, compared with the usual rate of Rs 23 or Rs 24. Onions would sell at Rs 18 to 20 a kg but on Monday the price was Rs 30.

Many traders said supplies did not arrive because suburban trains were not running.

Officials in the agricultural marketing department said prices would stabilise within a few days, after vegetables start arriving in the city in trucks and Matadors.

“We have to hire pick-up trucks to carry potol (pointed gourd) to Gariahat and Lake Market,” said Sadhan Talukdar, a farmer in Diamond Harbour, South 24-Parganas. “Transportation would have been cheaper had suburban trains been running.”

A section of traders said Matador operators were demanding double the normal rent. In the afternoon, the government issued an instruction to all district magistrates asking them to ensure that farmers didn’t face any problem in hiring trucks and Matadors to ferry their produce.

In Calcutta, enforcement directorate teams visited several markets to check whether traders were hoarding items.