Government of West Bengal subsidizes transport to boost potato export to other states

The West Bengal state government is providing transport subsidy for the benefit of potato farmers, businessmen and cold storage owners, for exporting potatoes to other states.

The state is giving a subsidy of Rs 50 per quintal for export of potatoes by road and Rs 100 per quintal for export in railways. The subsidy will continue till the end of December.

The state government will be spending around Rs 15 crore from the state exchequer, for the purpose of providing subsidy.

A senior official of the state Agricultural Marketing department:

“We will be keeping a hawk eye on the export of potatoes to other states, to prevent any misuse of the money for the subsidy.”

“There have been instances when businessmen have not exported potatoes even after taking the government subsidy. There will be GPS monitoring on trucks for export through road.”

The West Bengal state government wants to have more export by rail, as the process not only saves time but also lessens the chance of irregularities in export.

Potatoes from the state are mainly exported to the neighbouring states like Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha.

A meeting was recently held under the chairmanship of state Agricultural Marketing minister Tapan Dasgupta in presence of senior government officials, associations of businessmen dealing in potatoes and cold storage owners associations, where the decision of providing the transport subsidy was taken.

It may be mentioned that the Mamata Banerjee government has already allowed storing of potatoes in cold storages till December 31, nearly free of cost. In November end, cold storages are closed for routine maintenance work for the next year.

West Bengal has an annual requirement of 65 lakh metric tonnes. This year, the state has a production of around 85 lakh metric tonnes, which is much lower than last year's figure of 110 lakh metric tonnes.

An official in the state Agriculture department said that there is still three months left for the new crop to hit the market:

“We have 11.5 lakh metric tonnes of potato in the cold storages. That is enough for three months.”

“So if we can manage the supply effectively, people will not face any problem.”

The businessmen have demanded that there should be restrictions on the import of potatoes from other states at this juncture, to ensure that the existing stock gets exhausted in a smooth manner. The state government, however, is yet to take a decision on this.