Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The non-stop countrywide blockade called by the BNP-led 20 party alliance has severely disrupted the supply of essentials, causing immense loss to the major commodity players and producers of food, beverage and dairy products, sources said.
Transport owners have suspended their operation on long-distance routes from Sunday night fearing arson attack which crippled their sales and production, affecting distribution system of commodities across the country.
“The blockade virtually isolated Dhaka from rest of the country, severely disrupting supply chain of food and commodities, eventually leading to serious adverse impact on our sales and production,” Amzad Khan Chowdhury, Chairman of Pran-RFL Group, told The New Nation yesterday.
PRAN-RFL Group is the largest exporter of processed agro-products in Bangladesh. It is also producing juice, snacks, soft drink, cakes and dairy products.
Describing the adverse impact of political turmoil on his company, Amzad Khan Chowdhury said, usually sales of his company goes down almost zero during a hartal day and by 50 per cent during a blockade, forcing the company to suffer huge financial loss.
Amzad Khan Chowdhury, a former President of Metropolitan Chamber and Commerce and Industry (MCCI) urged the political leaders for a peaceful solution of the current political impasse, saying that the politicians cannot put barriers on economic activities in the name of hartal and blockade. They must come out to a solution immediately for the sake of the economy. “The ongoing blockade programme has adversely affected production and distribution system of our company. Our sales turnover has witnessed a sharp fall due to countrywide blockade for the last two days, causing huge financial loss,” said Md Mostafa Kamal, Chairman of Meghna Group of Industries. He said that his company could not deliver goods and commodities from its godown as transport owners refused to operate their vehicles on roads for fear of attacks.
Meghna Group of Industries is one of the biggest conglomerates in the country. It has wide range of consumer goods under the brand of ‘Fresh.’ “The ongoing blockade has created a systematic jam on our distribution network,” Biswajit Shaha, General Manager of City Group, which is one of the country’s leading producers of edible oil and food items. He mentioned, his company usually delivers 5000-6000 thousand tons of essential commodities, including sugar, edible oil and flour per day through its 2200 distributors across the country. “But the delivery of such huge quantity goods came to halt during hartal and blockade, causing huge loss for both the producers and distributors,” he added. “This is also leading to pile up huge quantity of finished goods on the factory premises in the wake of poor sales and supply disruption,” said Biswajit Shaha, adding, “If the situation ligers, it could create a supply crunch of commodities in the market pushing up their prices at retail level.
He further said if market supplies begin to depletes, the low income bracket people would be the hardest hit by the blockade.
Meanwhile, a supply crunch of vegetables has created in the city’s kitchen markets amid countrywide rail, road and waterway blockade by the BNP-led opposition alliance.
Traders at the city’s Kawran Bazar wholesale market said that they had failed to carry sufficient quantity of vegetables from southern or northern areas of the country as transportation remained suspended across the country for last two days.
