Potato price rises in Kalai due to traders’ tricks

Saud Talukder, Kalai (Joypurhat)

Like other parts of the country, the price of potatoes has increased in Kalai Upazila of the district due to the tricks of traders and cold store owners. As a result, the low-income group of customers is suffering much in buying this essential commodity.
The Norwest Cold Store in Kalai town has a storage capacity of 85,000 sacks. Different departments of the administration including the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) are monitoring whether potatoes are being sold in the cold stores at the government fixed rates.
Last Sunday afternoon, potatoes were bought and sold in various cold stores in the district, but the Norwest Cold Store in Kalai Town was closed. Not only that the potato sorting shed was also empty. The main gate of the cold store was locked. However, there are still 36,700 bags of potatoes stored here. The officials in charge of market supervision were shocked to see such a scene. On Monday, it was found that due to the manipulation of traders, potatoes were being bought and sold at Tk 40 to Tk 42 per kg at the cold store gate. Those potatoes are being sold at Tk 55 to Tk 60 per kg in the retail market. In this situation, the government has set the maximum price of potatoes for sale at Tk 27 per kg. But the businessmen are not complying with the fixed price of the government. On the other hand, because the market supervision of the administration has been strengthened, many cold stores have stopped the purchase and sale of potatoes. On Sunday afternoon, Bogura Regional DNCRP Assistant Director Iftekharul Alam visited several cold stores in Kalai Upazila to monitor the market. At that time, the purchase and sale of potatoes in the Norwest Cold Store were closed. The shed was empty and the main gate of the cold store was locked.
Several traders who did not want to be named said that they have not been able to recover from the losses of the past year. The bank’s debt is still pending. They questioned where was the government then. The traders have stopped selling potatoes because of the pressure of the administration. There is still time to store potatoes.
Muktar Hossain, the manager of Norwest Cold Store, said, “The storage capacity of this cold store is 85,000 sacks. There were 36,700 bags of potatoes stored till Sunday afternoon.” When asked why buying and selling were stopped and sheds were empty, he said, “Since the day the price of potatoes was fixed, this has been the case. Now what can we do? The sheds are lying empty as the traders have stopped selling potatoes. Besides, the storage period for potatoes is till November 15.
That is why we cannot put pressure on the traders.” Iftekharul Alam, assistant director of Bogura Regional DNCRP, said, “The price of potatoes is so high mainly because of the manipulation of traders. There are enough potatoes in the cold stores. They are being warned.”
When asked why the purchase and sale of potatoes in the Norwest Cold Storage was stopped, he said, “Traders are playing tricks. They have to sell potatoes at a government-fixed rate. Otherwise, the cold storage will be sealed.”