Potato price jumps as smuggling on amid lax watch

People smuggle potatoes to India through Mogolhat border in Lalmonirhat on Wednesday. Photo: Star

Potato price has now doubled in the local market here as a good quantity of potatoes is being smuggled into India through Nagartari area of Mogholhat border in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila every day during the Ramadan.
An organised smugglers syndicate is using the route for smuggling potatoes into India due to lax vigilance by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), locals alleged.
Around 50 to 60 metric tonnes of potatoes are being smuggled into India every day, locals said.
Just a week ago, one kg of good quality potatoes was sold at Tk 15, medium quality potatoes at Tk 12 and low quality potatoes at Tk 9 in the local market. But now one kg of good quality potatoes is being sold at Tk 30, medium quality potatoes at Tk 24 and low quality potatoes at Tk 20 in the market.
Potato traders Abdul Miah and Nazrul Islam at Mogholhat Bazar said there is a huge supply of potatoes in the local market and the price would not be doubled if it is not smuggled into India.
As a group of smugglers are buying potatoes at a high rate, the local traders are selling potatoes at a high price in the retail market, they said.
Hamidul Islam of Nagartari border village said he earns Tk 30 for taking one sack of potatoes (each sack contains 80 kgs of potatoes) to the zero line of the border from the local market by his bicycle.
At least 300 locals are engaged in this work and each of them can earn Tk 500 every day, he added.
Abdus Sattar, a member of a smuggler syndicate, claiming to be a “source” of BGB, said potato farmers are getting reasonable rates for their produce as potatoes are being smuggled into India.
BGB members are overlooking the potato smuggling in the interest of farmers, he said, adding that he and many other people are involved in potato trading in the border area.
However, Nayek Subedar Khademul Islam, camp commander of the Mogholhat BGB, said the BGB never allows anybody to smuggle potatoes into India.
Dodging the BGB's vigilance, smugglers can send potatoes into India through the border, he said.
Locals urged the authorities concerned to stop the potato smuggling in order to keep the potato price in the local market stable.