Staff Reporter :
Meat traders on Sunday called off their pre-announced strike which was scheduled to begin from the first day of the Holy month of Ramzan, after Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed assured them of meeting their demands soon.
In the morning of the same day, the meat traders announced that they would enforce strike, if their demands were not met within next 15 days.
But within an hour of the announcement, the meat sellers withdrew their decision of strike. It was taken to protest extortion and excessive taxes in the cattle market. “Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has assured us of addressing our demands shortly. As such, we will not go for work abstention,” said Rabiul Alam, Secretary General of Dhaka Metropolitan Meat Traders Association.
He said that the Minister talked with us at his Ministry.
“We demanded an end to our problems within four to five days when we were holding talks with Mayors of Dhaka North and South City Corporations,” Rabiul Alam said.
The meat traders earlier threatened that they would go for work abstention from the first day of Ramzan if the government did not meet their demands including establishment of a permanent cattle market in Dhaka South City Corporation.
The sale of meat had fallen due to high price, said Rabiul.
As a result, half of the meat shops have already been shut down, he added.
At the press conference, Robiul Alam pointed out many problems they were facing and also placed their demands including building of a number of modern slaughterhouses, stopping of extortion and reduction of taxes.
Earlier, the traders observed a six-day countrywide strike from February 13 to 18 to press home the four point demands which contributed to increase the price.
