Wholesale dealers will not be allowed to store more than 25 MT of potato & onion: WB govt

To control the rising price of onion and potato, the West Bengal government has issued a directive that no wholesale dealer will be allowed to store more than 25 MT and those having small businesses not more than two MT of two the vegetables, an official said on Friday.

Strict legal actions will be taken if anyone is found violating the directive, he said.

Teams of Kolkata Police Enforcement Branch on Friday paid surprise visits to several markets in and around the city to check hoarding of potatoes and onions.

"This is not new. We regularly conduct inspections of markets. But since the price of both these vegetables have been rising quite sharply in the past few weeks we have stepped up our inspections to check any kind of hoarding," a police officer said.

The price of potatoes in local city markets have touched Rs 40 a kilogramme while onion is being sold at Rs 80 per kilogramme.