Anisul Islam Noor :
Amid fears of chemical-laced fruits in abundance, many a city dweller now meet their seasonal fruit demand by direct supply from the growers and a good number of currier service providers which sprang up over the years riding on the customers’ high demand, are delivering such orders to the buyers’ destinations.
Visiting the Santinagar outlet of a courier service company on Sunday, this correspondent found, hundreds of fruit baskets cluttered here and there with name tags and phone numbers of the individuals for whom the fruits were sent from Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Pabna, Satkhira, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Jessore and other areas.
The employees have been passing busy time delivering summer fruits, especially mangoes and litchis, supplied from distant districts since the season began. Transactions of such companies made a significant surge in the last few weeks due to the soaring commercial and household orders, according to sector insiders.
Many, however, registered complaints about their parcels going missing, which might have happened due to the rush.
Motijheel outlet of the Sundarban Courier Service was also found buzzing with customers last night.
Nurur Rahman, a counter manager at the company, said most baskets are of mangoes and litchis.
People in Dinajpur, Rajshahi can send a basket of 1,000 pieces of litchis or 100 kgs of mangoes to their relatives in Dhaka at Tk 1,000 and Tk 1200 respectively.
Small fruit vendors are also bringing fruits through courier services as it is suitable for their business, Rahman further said.
He said transaction of the companies increased substantially in the last three weeks, thanks to the soaring fruit delivery orders.
“The district branches are now struggling to cope with the booking orders,” he added.
Managing Director of Karatowa Courier Service Mozammel Haq Lalu said production of mangoes, litchis and other summer fruits is aplenty this time, leading to a drop in price of the seasonal fruits.
“The price- drop might have helped raise orders notably,” he said.
Pointing to the dearth of manpower, he said that home delivery of fruits in Dhaka is hampered for now. “Customers have been requested to receive their parcels from the nearby counters through confirming their cell phone numbers,” he said.
Many of the fruits seekers, however, made complaints of their parcels going missing.
Apurba Das, an NGO official, said his parcel was sent from Jessore on May 24 morning.
He went to SA Paribahan’s Lalmatia counter in the city to receive the parcel the following day, but didn’t get it.
“Counter manager of Jessore later told me that my parcel went to Lalmonirhat by mistake,” Das said. “Mangoes were rotten when it was released on May 27.”
Ashfia binte Nuran, a private bank official, came to the Korotowa Courier Service at Mirpur on Monday night.
She told the reporter that her father sent 500 pieces of ‘bedana’ variety of litchi from Dinajpur.
“I searched for my parcel for two hours but could not find,” she said.
Hafizur Rahman Pulok, president of Courier Service Association of Bangladesh (CSAB), said the companies are bound to ensure delivery of a parcel to its authentic owner.
He said all the companies have been asked to take complaints on a priority basis and compensate the affected customers.
Sadhan Chandra Das, a leading fruit trader in the city, said people in the capital consumes more than 0.35 million tonnes of mangoes and 10,000 tonnes of litchis annually.
“Some 20-25 per cent of the fruits are entering into the city, through courier service vehicles,” said Das, also president of Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importers Association.
Abdur Razzaque Razu, secretary of CSAB said the companies were expecting around Tk 500 million in transactions from delivering mangoes and litchis this year.
According to the CSAB, the country has more than 1,000 courier service companies having 5,000 vehicles.
