Victims of sheer neglect
Potatoes of hundreds of poor growers in Dinajpur get rotten in a cold storage
A large amount of potato, kept in cold storage Uttar Himghar Ltd at Gopalganj village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila, rots as the owner, a ruling party man, allegedly overloaded the storage and failed to arrange smooth power supply to keep the cooling system operative. Photo: STAR
Hundreds of marginal potato growers of Dinajpur Sadar upazila yesterday demanded compensation as thousands of sacks of potatoes they kept in a cold storage at Gopalganj village under the upazila have rotten due to alleged negligence of the cold storage authorities. Addressing a press conference at the local press club, the hapless farmers said they kept potatoes at Uttara Heemghar Limited owned by a ruling party man as he assured them of an alternative source of power supply to the cold storage during load shedding. They alleged though the authorities assured them of frequent power supply to the cold storage by using emergency generator, it has remained out of order for several years. At least 90 percent of the potatoes in the cold storage have so far rotten, the growers claimed, putting blame on the authorities concerned for not taking steps to save the potatoes from being damaged. They also sought prime minister's help to get compensation for their losses. President of Chehelgazi Krishak Kalyan Samity Pear Uddin Ahmed, General Secretary Md Nazrul Islam, potato growers Reazul Islam, Saiful Islam and Atiur Islam addressed the press conference. They said Uttara Heemghar Ltd has storage capacity of about 38,000 sacks of potatoes with 85kg each, but the authorities have kept about 54,000 sacks this season assuring farmers of alternative source of power during outage. They threatened tougher agitation if their demand for compensation was not met by Sunday. They said they also submitted a memorandum to acting deputy commissioner Md Shamsul Alam on Sunday last seeking his help. But the acting DC told us to file a case against the cold storage, a farmer said. An employee of the cold storage seeking anonymity said about 6,000 sacks of potatoes have so far rotten due to lack of power supply. Nicholas Maddi, caretaker of Uttara Heemghar Ltd, told this correspondent that the power generator of the cold storage has remained inoperative for several years. This correspondent could not contact Executive Director of Uttara Heemghar Limited Md Mirza Ashfaque Hossain, also the joint secretary of Dinajpur district Awami League, as he is now in China.
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