The task force set up by the state government to monitor the prices of essential commodities visited two markets in the city on Wednesday and recorded the rates at which vegetables were being sold.

The task force members told the vegetable retailers that they should not unnecessarily hike prices.

The market visits followed a meeting chaired by chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna on Tuesday.

Mamata expressed her anger at the exorbitant prices of vegetables and asked the task force to take immediate action. She also asked the task force to ensure that the prices come down within 10 days.

Many buyers as well as vegetable retailers said the government should have intervened long back as the prices shot up weeks ago and have remained high since.

Rabindranath Koley, a member of the team that visited the markets, told Metro that they warned the retailers about police action if they were found hoarding vegetables to artificially boost demand and hike prices.

“We told them that vegetable prices are already quite high and the retailers should not use this opportunity to further raise them,” he said.

“We went to VIP Market in Kankurgachi, a retail market, and to Koley Market in Sealdah, which is a wholesale market. We jotted down the prices in these markets and also spoke with retailers. We will compare the rates at the two markets,” Koley said.

Vegetables at most retail markets in the city come from Koley Market.

“If the difference between the prices at the two markets is too high, it would suggest that retailers are to blame for the high rates,” said Koley.

“The chief minister has said the prices of essential commodities must come down within 10 days. I conveyed her message to the retailers.”

The team, which included cops, told the retailers that they should display the prices of vegetables every day.“That would ensure that no retailer gets an opportunity to sell at exorbitant rates,” said a retailer.

Koley said retailers told him that the tomato and brinjal prices had already dropped and he expected them to slide further in the next 10 days.

The potato price, however, has remained static for several weeks. The Chandramukhi variety sold for ₹40 a kilo and the Jyoti variety for ₹35 a kilo at most markets on Thursday. “The prices have remained the same for at least a month,” said a retailer at the Gariahat market.

“There are enough potatoes — about 45 lakh tonnes — in cold stores. But a section of traders is controlling the release of potatoes in the market, creating a demand-supply gap. You should ensure that 6 lakh tonnes are released in the market every month,” the chief minister had said on Tuesday.

The release of that much potato in the market every month, Mamata had said, would bring down theretail price from ₹35 a kg to at least ₹22.

The task force is scheduled to visit two retail markets in central and north Calcutta on Thursday.

Bengal consumes around 5 lakh tonnes of potato every month. But around 45 lakh tonnes are in cold stores.

If potatoes are released according to the demand, there should not be any shortage till the next harvest in January, sources said.