It is the production time of potatoes. But the potato farmers here in all probabilities will sell their produce at cheaper prices and suffer losses due to unavailability of freezers in nearby areas.
Keeping the long-felt need of the local farmers in view, the then Chief Minister and local MlA Janaki Ballav Patnaik had opened a cold storage in 1985 which was run by the State Cooperation Department at least for a decade. When other parties came to power in the State, the unit began to ruin as no one gave attention to its renovation.
Presently, the cold storage unit is found in a dilapidated and defunct condition. When the local farmers demanded its restarting, the Registrar of the State Cooperative department gave it on lease for 30 years to Seashore but till date, the company has not started it.
Farmer Arakshit Pradhan rued that the local MlA’s attention has been drawn several times to restart the cold storage unit but in vain.