November 14, 2019
State will take action against those selling vegetables at exorbitant prices: Didi
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today that the State Government will take strong action against all those selling vegetables at exorbitant prices.
She was addressing the media after chairing a meeting of the Agriculture Department at Nabanna.
Excerpts:
Many sellers are selling at prices up to four times that at which they are buying from farmers. We have spoken to the sellers’ associations and chambers of commerce to correct this aberration in the next few days.
The cyclone has caused devastation for sure, but vegetables are grown all over the State. So we will be able to tide over the difficult situation. Only onions is a problem. The Centre imports onions. The Centre had an agreement with our organisation, NAFED to supply onions at Rs 25 per kg. But the Centre is violating that agreement.
Potatoes are harvested in January. Since there have been unseasonal rains, farmers are taking out potatoes from storage and selling at Rs 13 to 14 per kg. But open market some sellers are taking up unscrupulous means to sell it at much higher rates. We will take up measures to stop this.
For cauliflowers and cabbages, we are making arrangements to pick up in trucks directly from the fields and sell.
We are hoping the supply situation would become normal in seven to eight days. Till then I have instructed the police to keep a strict watch so that sellers don’t over-charge.
