Minister warns against Ramadan market manipulation
Dhaka: Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Sunday warned of taking stern action against those who will try to create any artificial crisis of essentials in the market ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
"The prices, stocks and supply of essentials in the country are stable now. Stern action will be taken if any crisis is created artificially," he said.
The Commerce Minister was addressing a meeting with business leaders at Secretariat that evaluated the supply and prices of essentials ahead of Ramadan.
Tofail said the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), like previous years, will sell edible oil, pulses, sugar, chickpea and date at fair prices in the open market.
The TCB will sell the essential commodities at an affordable cost from May 15 across the country engaging 2,811 dealers.
These essentials will be sold through 33 trucks in Dhaka city, 10 trucks in Chittagong, seven trucks in Khulna and five truck in each of other divisional cities while two trucks in each district towns, according to the Commerce Ministry.
Minister Tofail said the current market stocks of essentials including rice, wheat, edible oil, sugar, chickpea, onion, garlic, salt and dates are adequate to address the total demand.
"The stock is much higher than that of demand," he said adding that there is no scope for any crisis of the supply of essentials.
The Commerce Minister assured that the prices of essentials will remain stable and within the purchasing capacity of the commoners.
"The government remains watchful so that there is no price hike of essentials targeting Ramadan," he said adding that the government wants to see the mark stable round the year.
The Commerce Minister said the businesspeople will be awarded if market remains stable as per the government's expectation.
He said the government has taken necessary steps so that businesspeople are in no way harassed or money extorted from them while carrying their essentials through roads and waterways.
Tofail said problems will also be resolved through discussion with meat traders and hoped that the meat traders will not go for strike in the future.
Commerce Ministry senior officials, including acting Commerce Secretary Subhashish Bose, TCB Chairman Brig Gen Abu Saleh Md Golam Ambia, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection Director General M Shafiqul Islam Laskar, owners and representatives City Group, Meghna Group, TK Group and S Alam Group attended the meeting and gave their opinion.