The Madaripur district administration has formed a five-member inquiry committee into the rotting of about 15,000 sacks of potatoes at Madaripur Cold Storage, Ekattor TV's Madaripur correspondent reports. The committee, headed by the district fisheries officer, was set up on Monday, 21 September, after the channel broadcast the story on 19 September, and has been told to report within seven working days.

The potatoes rotted after being held in the cold store for a long time in the hope of higher prices, the report says. The 15,000 sacks of 60 kg amount to about 22,500 maunds, with a current retail value of about Tk 2.25 crore. The rotten potatoes are now being given away free to local farmers and livestock keepers as cattle feed.

Madaripur Deputy Commissioner Marzina Akter said the matter had been taken seriously as soon as it came to notice, and that the inquiry would establish why the potatoes rotted, whether anyone was negligent, whether the cold store holds a valid licence and what its capacity is. Action will follow once the report is received, the administration said.

Krishi Shomoy's report of 20 September put the loss at 30,000 maunds and about Tk 3 crore; Ekattor TV counts 15,000 sacks and 22,500 maunds. The committee's report should settle the true quantity and where responsibility lies.

Holding potatoes for a better price, and a cold store's licence and capacity, are the two questions this season's growers and stockists are being warned about: when rotten potatoes end up as cattle feed, the loss falls on the owner and the lender.

Source: Ekattor TV — Reporting: Staff correspondent, Madaripur