Authorities in Rajshahi's Paba upazila have seized 2,300 sacks of potatoes from a cold storage during a raid conducted on Tuesday evening.
The raid was conducted at Rahman Brothers Cold Storage Ltd. and later auctioned at a wholesale price of Tk 39 per kg while retailers are expected to sell them at Tk 45 per kg.
Reports suggest that 2,200 bags of potatoes were found stockpiled for sale in the storage, and an additional 100 bags were discovered in another room of the same facility. Earlier, 452 bags were seized from Aman Cold Storage and 1,505 bags from Rahman Cold Storage in the same upazila.
Paba Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md. Sohrab Hossain stated, "We are clearing out stockpiles from the cold storages. The seized potatoes were auctioned at Tk 39 per kg, and we will monitor the market to ensure retailers sell them at Tk 45 per kg."
He added that the operation is part of ongoing efforts to prevent artificial price hikes.
Golam Mostafa, General Secretary of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) in Rajshahi, accused cold storage owners and traders of forming a syndicate to create an artificial potato shortage despite government directives on pricing. "This syndicate has been hoarding potatoes to drive up market prices," he said.
The district administration had earlier ordered all cold storages in Rajshahi to release their stock but some storages continued hoarding. The administration has intensified raids to address the issue.
Notably, Rajshahi has 43 cold storages with a combined storage capacity of approximately 85 lakhs of sacks of potatoes, each containing 60 to 65 kilograms.
