Shopkeepers lowered the prices of commodities when the parliamentary standing committee on the commerce ministry asked them about prices in some important wholesale and retail kitchen markets in the capital on Wednesday, buyers alleged.
The committee, escorted by market association leaders, visited the Mohammadpur Town Hall, the Mohammadpur Krishi Market and the Karwan Bazar wholesale and retail market to monitor prices of commodities after the announcement of the budget proposal and before Ramadan.
At the Mohammadpur Town Hall market, the committee found that sugar was selling for Tk 60–Tk 62 a kilogram, onions for Tk 20–Tk 25 a kilogram, miniket rice for Tk 44–Tk 48 a kilogram and Nazirshail for Tk 60–Tk 62 a kilogram kg but the shopkeepers sold the items to common buyers for higher prices.
The committee chief, ABM Abul Qasem, led the team while the commerce secretary, Mohammad Golam Hossain, and representatives of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection were also present.
Quasem expressed his satisfaction at the prices and told reporters that the commodity prices were under control and they had not gone up after the announcement of the proposed budget.
The standing committee delegation during the visit, however, noticed that soya bean oil was selling for Tk 114–Tk 116 a litre, which is much higher than Tk 90 that the government had set.
When the reporters took up the issue with Abul Qasem, he could not give any reply.
On his behalf, the commerce secretary told reporters that the government had set the price of soya bean oil at Tk 90 a litre six months ago after discussion with business leaders.
'We will look into the matter and will take necessary measures to this end. The government will re-fix the price of soya bean oil at a reasonable level after discussion with business leaders,' he said.
The buyers at the markets, however, alleged that commodity prices had gone up after the announcement of the proposed budget and the shopkeepers had lower the prices when the committee asked about them.
'I have bought onions for Tk 26 a kg and sugar for Tk 64 a kilogram today. The prices have gone up by Tk 2–Tk 4 a kilogram after the announcement of the budget proposal,' said Sakila Ruma, who also bought miniket rice for Tk 49 a kilogram at the Mohammadpur Town Hall market on Wednesday.
She alleged that the shopkeepers had given the committee wrong information.
The organising secretary of the Mohammadpur Town Hall Market Traders' Association, Md Anisur Rahman, who along with other association leaders accompanied the committee delegation during the visit, told reporters that commodity prices had not increased after the announcement of the budget proposed for the 2011–12 financial year.
He, however, claimed that some dishonest traders were charging extra price and they would take action against such traders if anyone could level specific allegations.
The picture was the same when the delegation visited the Mohammadpur Krishi Market and the Karwan Bazar wholesale and retail market.
The decision to conduct such visits was made at the committee's meeting on May 29.
source:New Age
