The three–day strike called by potato traders in West Bengal from Monday to protest a condition set by the government for partial relaxation of export ban was withdrawn on Sunday.
“We requested potato traders to withdraw the strike and they have done so,” Agriculture Marketing Minister Arup Roy told PTI here.
Earlier, Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy urged potato traders not to go ahead with the strike since Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would be away in North Bengal from September 1.
Both the Agriculture Minister and the TMC leader said the government was considerate and after meeting the State’s requirement, it had no objection to transport of potatoes to other States.
Government conditionLast Monday, the State government had told potato traders that they would be allowed to export 700 tonnes daily to other States, provided they supplied 300 tonnes of tubers to the West Bengal government at a price of Rs 12 per kilo to be sold to fair price shops.
The Pragatishil Aloo Byabsayee Samiti, the largest organisation of potato traders in the State, had called the strike.
Price issueSantanu Manna, the president of the Samiti, earlier questioned how this was possible when they bought the Jyoti variety of potato from farmers at Rs 13 a kilo, which included cold storage and transport charges, before being sent to wholesale markets. The price at that stage then became Rs 16 a kilo, he had said.
The State government had earlier banned supply of potatoes to other States in view of the three—day strike called by the traders. PTI
