BHUBANESWAR: Opposition BJD and the Congress members in the Odisha Assembly on Monday expressed concern over the acute scarcity of potato and the rising price of tuber in the retail market.
Raising the issue during ‘Zero Hour’, Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik held the state government “responsible” for the scarcity.
She said the government has completely failed to control the price rise and provide essential items like potatoes to the people.
The BJD leader said that the price of a kilogramme of potato is sold at Rs 50 to Rs 60.
The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister claimed that the price of potato remained at Rs 30 to Rs 35.
Mallik said the minister said that 300 trucks of potatoes were being imported from Uttar Pradesh, but they had not yet reached the state so far.
Congress Legislature Party Leader Rama Chandra Kadam alleged that the state’s BJP government has completely failed to meet the requirements of the people.
This apart, the Congress leader said that the price of all essential commodities has increased during the last five months after the BJP government assumed power in Odisha. Kadam urged the Speaker to issue a direction to the government to assure the House that they would control the price within two days. BJP member Siddhant Mohapatra, however, blamed the previous BJD government for the present potato crisis and said if the previous BJD government had properly implemented the potato mission, such a situation would not have arisen in the state. Amid the state-wide uproar over the potato crisis, some trucks carrying tubers from Uttar Pradesh reached Odisha.
