Bhubaneswar: Opposition BJD and Congress slammed the BJP government raising the ongoing potato crisis in the State. They also demanded immediate measures to stabilize the potato price hike.
During the Zero Hour, BJD chief whip Pramilla Mallik raised the issue and said the price of Potatoes has doubled from Rs 30 to 60 per kg during the last seven days and demanded the government explain what steps it was taking to control the price and ensure supply.
The BJD members staged a protest showing print out copies of paper clippings on potato price hike and created a ruckus in the House.
She said the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister K C Patra sometimes said 300 trucks of potatoes were being imported from Uttar Pradesh, but they had not yet reached the State.
She said the consumers are being exploited. Potatoes are a poor man’s food and the rise in prices has hurt them the most, the BJD leader said.
BJD MLA Goutam Buddha Das held the government responsible for the rise in prices of potatoes. The government has no plan to resolve the issue.
The Minister had been misleading the people since July by giving false statements that the potatoes are being imported from Uttar Pradesh. People were very angry and said they would teach a lesson to the minister, Shri Das said. He demanded the government chalk out a long-term plan to solve the problem. The BJD MLA also demanded removal of Patra from the Cabinet.
BJD legislator Ganeswar Behera requested the Speaker direct the Chief Minister and the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister to intervene in the matter and to hold discussions with the West Bengal government to ensure steady supply to improve the situation and initiate steps for a permanent solution.
Similarly, Congress Legislature Party Leader Ramachandra Kadam said the government has failed to control the prices of essential commodities. The price of essential commodities has increased manifold during the last five months after the BJP government assumed power.
He urged the Speaker to direct the government to assure the House that they would control the price within two days.
Sidhant Mohapatra from BJP defended the government and said that had the previous BJD government implemented the Potato Mission correctly such a situation would not have arisen.
If the Mission would have implemented keeping in view the future, the State would have become self-reliant in potato production and there would not have any potato crisis in Odisha, the BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, some trucks carrying potatoes have reached Odisha markets from Uttar Pradesh. If sufficient amounts of the vegetable come to Odisha in the next couple of days, the crisis will be resolved, traders point out.