Kolkata, May 13 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Wednesday that the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government had decided to lift the ban on exports of all types of agriculture products, especially potato, from the state to other states, which was imposed during the previous Trinamool Congress government.

The previous Trinamool congress government had imposed a ban on exports of several agricultural products, especially potato, from West Bengal to other states.

Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was of the opinion that allowing exports of such agricultural products, especially potatoes, will lead to a supply crisis within West Bengal.

The decision was largely criticised both by the potato farmers and traders since the ban on export of the products to other states deprived them from higher profits.

Announcing the decision to lift the ban, Suvendu Adhikari told reporters on Wednesday that the decision will be cleared in the next meeting of the state Cabinet on May 18.

“The previous (Trinamool Congress) government has caused a lot of suffering for the farmers. From today, the supply of any agricultural and animal products to other states will be stopped at any inter-state border. No one will be able to harass anyone engaged in legal exports of farm and animal products to other states. People of West Bengal have lost expectations of this new government. A policy of zero tolerance for corruption has been taken by us. Action will be taken against institutional corruption. You will see that in the next few days,” Chief Minister Adhikari said.

The Chief Minister also added that the new state government will also adopt a zero-tolerance policy against illegal constructions which reportedly mushroomed during the previous Trinamool regime.

“There are several illegal constructions and several illegally-constructed factories in Kolkata. I have directed power audits of these illegal constructions, identify them, and disconnect the electricity connections there. The water connections to these illegal factories will also be stopped,” Adhikari said.

–IANS

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