In the face of criticism over its failure to check the steep rise in potato price, the State Government on Tuesday decided to prepare a contingency plan to regulate its price.
Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma told reporters here that the production of potato in the country this year has come down by about 30 per cent due to unfavourable weather conditions.
He said the Government has taken a decision to fix potato price. District Collectors have been directed to conduct meetings with wholesale traders to fix retail price of potato in their districts.
Dasburam said this after holding a meeting on the issue at the State Secretariat.
He said that as per information furnished by the Horticulture Department, potato production in Odisha too has fallen by about 30 per cent.
Dasburma said the State Government is in touch with potato traders in West Bengal for procurement of the vegetable. But since potato production in the neighbouring State has also fallen, it would have a considerable impact on the Odisha market, he said.
He said his department would assess the present stock of potato in the cold storages very soon.
To a question as to how Odisha traders can stock potato when production has fallen by about 30 per cent, Dasburma said the traders procure potato from both inside and outside the State.
Stating that the present price of potato in West Bengal is Rs9-10 per kg, he said its retail price in Odisha would be around Rs2-3 more taking transport and other expenses into consideration but not more than that.
He said his department would prepare a contingency plan after assessing the
present stock of potato in the cold storages.