We are dismayed to see a continuous increase of prices of essentials, particularly rice. It is not new for the consumers of Bangladesh to suffer as a syndicate of hoarders allegedly pushes up prices of certain food items for no reason at all. What is really new, however, is that the unholy trend has started at a time when the new Aman rice already started to arrive in the market.
It is to be remembered that the worst affected victims are the people who are the most burdened with this extra cost. Even if it is argued that prices of some essentials increased due to high carrying cost, it does not account for the rise of rice price, as it is now the pick paddy harvest season.
However, according to a news report in a national daily on Saturday, there is a gulf of difference between the prices of rice and other essentials at the wholesale level and in the retail market. With the import of Indian rice through Hilli border on Friday, the price of a 50 kg sack has reduced by Tk 100 at the wholesale market in Tongi. But there is no impact of it in the retail market anywhere. The imported Indian onion is also being sold at Tk 40-45 per kg in retail level, while the wholesale price is Tk 28. Wholesale traders said that there would be no impact of Indian rice import in our local market.
We demand that the government should intensify strong monitoring of the market by employing special teams led by magistrates to see what is causing this hike. Are the syndicates hoarding rice to create an artificial shortage? Always it is the poor and the middle classes who are affected the most. Once the price of any item goes up, there is hardly an instance of it going down again.
Though the government often talks loud about its efforts to break these syndicates, the syndicates are never identified. And they always remainout of reach. The more the government declares it will root out the syndicates, the stronger the syndicates get.
We fail to understand why the TCB is operating virtually as a toothless body. It should be strengthened to its full capacity so that it can effectively curb price manipulation through timely intervention.
We hope that the government’s repeated assurances of maintaining stability of food prices must be translated into reality.
