Potatoes worth Tk 3.0m damaged in Gaibandha cold storage

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GAIBANDHA, Sept 11 (UNB): More than 2,000 sacks of potatoes worth Tk 3.0 million (30 lakh) had decayed and some had germinated in a cold storage at Dhaperhat in Sadullahpur Upazila due to frequent load shedding and negligence of the cold storage authorities.
Farmers and businessmen, who stored potatoes in RV Cold Storage, have become unnerved.
They alleged that RV Cold Storage had storage capacity of 86,000 sacks of potato but to earn windfall profit, the cold storage authority stored excess potatoes in it.
Moreover, the cold storage had to experience frequent load shedding. But the authority didn't use its two emergency generators with 300 megawatts capacity properly due to high price of fuel.
The farmers and businessmen came to know the matter when they went to lift the potatoes recently.
M Abdul Kuddus Paikar and M Saju Miah said that their potatoes germinated in the cold storage.
They demanded compensation for the loss they incurred due to the carelessness of the cold storage authorities.
Manager of the cold storage Hamidul Islam said that they were compelled to store excess potatoes due to the pressure of the local farmers and businessmen.
The potatoes got rotten and some germinated as the cold storage had to face 17 hours to 18 hours load shedding every day, he added.