Authorities on Sunday seized 1,957 sacks of potatoes from cold storages in Paba, Rajshahi, aiming to control prices and ensure fair market distribution.
To address the ongoing instability caused by multiple price hikes in the potato market, the government recently set fixed wholesale and retail prices for potatoes.
Following this directive, potatoes stockpiled in various cold storages in Paba upazila beyond the permitted period were seized by a mobile court and sold in the open market at fair prices.
To implement the government order that potatoes cannot be stored in cold storages after November 30, a mobile court conducted raids in the evening at Aman and Rahman cold storages in the upazila.
The operation was led by Executive Magistrate and Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Zahid Hasan, with assistance from Paba police.
According to the mobile court, 452 sacks of potatoes from Aman Cold Storage and 1,505 sacks from Rahman Cold Storage were seized for sale at fair prices.
In the presence of buyers, the potatoes were auctioned off at a wholesale rate of Tk39 per kilogram, which will later be sold to consumers at a retail price of Tk45 per kilogram.
It was further reported that measures have been taken to release stockpiled potatoes into the market after conducting raids on cold storages.
Rajshahi district alone has 43 cold storages, which store approximately 8.5 million bags or sacks of potatoes.
Each sack contains 65 kilograms of potatoes.
