According to sources in West Bengal Cold Storage Owner's Association, the association had been assured by the government that the rental would be increased by at least Rs 15. Following this the association had started unloading potatoes from the storages around May 15, almost a month earlier than in previous years. The government and potato dealers decided on advancing the unloading to contain skyrocketing prices.

Thereafter retail prices at some markets in Calcutta dropped marginally to Rs 8-9 per kg from the prevailing Rs 9-10 per kg in the earlier week. The association had submitted a memorandum to the minister for agricultural marketing, Birendra Maitra, stating that cold storage costs have gone up by more than Rs 14 per quintal over the previous year. Keka Sharma, joint secretary of the association, told The FinancialExpress, "In Bihar, where the rental is fixed by market forces, it is prevailing at Rs 90-95 per quintal. The association will be writing to the minister seeking a revision in the rental charges."

"Even if the rental charges are hiked now, the cold storage owners will face a loss as unloading has already started and it will be difficult to realise the extra amount from hirers who have already cleared out," Sharma added. "The government had formed an expert committee two years back, to look into reason for spoilage of potatoes in the state. The report of that committee had suggested that the rental should be fixed in a way such that the cold storage owners are adequately compensated and some amount is allocated for research and development purposes too. We will draw the attention of the governmentt to it." Meanwhile, Maitra has announced that the government is preparing to declare potato an essential commodity and the relevan papers have been sent to the chief minister. However, nothing has been doneofficially and trade circles in the state believe that government will bide its time till the panchayat elections slated for the last week of May. West Bengalconsumes around 3 lakh tonnes of potato per month. The production this year has been around the 50 lakh tonnes mark and cold storages have been loaded up to 30 lakh tonnes, around 66-70 per cent of capacity.

Ideally there should have been no shortage in the state but outflows to far flung areas like Uttar Pradesh and even Madhya Pradesh have contributed to the rising prices in a big way.