Kolkata: The inter-state war on essential commodities took a new turn, as Maharashtra threatened to stop supplying onions to West Bengal in retaliation to the latter government’s ban on the export of potatoes to other states.
Mamata Banerjee’s government had banned the export of potatoes to other states in view of the rising prices within the state, but was forced to lift the ban partially after pressure was mounted on the state government by potato traders who were suffering losses and also after hundreds of activists of the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha stopped hundreds of fish and egg-laden trucks from entering Bengal.
Andhra Pradesh has also threatened to stop exporting its agricultural and other produce to Bengal in a tit-for-tat move. Andhra, which is the largest supplier of eggs, fresh water fish and also vegetables and Bengal are also planning to put a cap on sending these items to West Bengal.
“The state government in Bengal has to understand that by imposing this ban they are actually breaking the very federal structure of the nation. All states are interdependent on each other for agricultural produce. If each one threatens another, the country’s economy will collapse,” said an officer of the Union agricultural department.
“They (other states) are sending us their excess produce and we also do the same. We had been sending potatoes to all the other states but at present our reserve condition is such that if we continue exporting potatoes to other states, people of our state will have to live without potatoes. In this condition we have no other alternative but to put an embargo on this export to other states,” state agricultural minister Anoop Roy said.
Already prices of the tuber in neighbouring states have soared sky-high, with people in Mizoram paying an exorbitant Rs45 (Dh2.72) for a kg!
What’s worse is that the situation is unlikely to improve until Banerjee returns next Friday from Singapore to take up the issue at the meeting of the task force on August 25 and initiate some steps. Traders fear that prices might touch Rs50 a kg by then as hundreds of trucks carrying potatoes are all stranded in the Assam-Bengal border for a week now.
“We have decided to supply 4,500 metric tons of potato each day to Odisha for a week as the state is facing flood. We are also sending 500 metric tons of potato each day to Jharkhand for a week. But we have no plans to send potatoes to the North-east since its release from our state might increase prices for our own consumers,” Roy said.
Others worry, that in this fight within states, black market will thrive in the country leading to severe inflationary pressures that can wreck the feeble economy even further.
