With Ramadan nearing, the government has moved to strengthen the market monitoring in a bid to check the rise in the prices of the daily essentials, a senior official said.
“The holy month of Ramadan is knocking at the door. So, we are trying to coordinate with all ministries, including Prime Minister's Office (to monitor the market). Our goal is to make people feel comfortable during Ramadan,” Commerce Secretary Jafar Uddin told the media on Saturday.
“It’s a promise as well as a challenge,” he added.
Jafar was speaking at a press conference marking the ‘World Consumers Rights Day 2020’ at the Department of National Consumer Rights Protection at the TCB Building in Dhaka. World Consumers Rights Day will be celebrated across the world on Sunday (March 15).
Citing wholesale and retail prices, and production will be monitored, Jafar said, the ministry along with the authorities concerned will take price monitoring initiative on each Sunday.
He further said that the commerce ministry is disappointed with the performance of market monitoring teams, which are responsible for reining in prices of essentials, as Ramadan nears.
“As many as 28 monitoring teams remain deployed to check prices and additional stocks of daily essentials. But the prices of the essentials in the market are not normal,” he added.
The Secretary also revealed that an app is being developed to get the market updates.
“The app will help us learn the market situations from (Dhaka’s) Shyambazar or Moulvibazar at once,” he added.
Meanwhile, prices of several essentials are reported on the rise amid the coronavirus fear. First reported in China late last year, a novel coronavirus has infected more than 137,000 people with around 5,100 deaths in 120 countries so far.
On the other, state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) said it maintains sufficient stock of goods as the situation is getting worse.
When asked, TCB spokesperson Md Humayun Kabir told The Bangladesh Post they have sufficient stock of essential goods including sugar, oil, plus, and onion.
“We do not have information on the rise of essentials prices at wholesale and retail markets in Dhaka. If demand of essentials rises, price will be controlled,” he assured.
The capacity of TCB has been increased ahead of Ramadan, Secretary Jafar informed.
Bablu Kumar Saha, director general of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, Deputy Director Mnnjur Mohammad Shahriar and other officials were present at the press conference.
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