Traders Sunday urged the government to take effective measures for ridding the Dhaka-Chattogram highway of severe traffic congestions and ensuring speedy clearance of essentials imported from India to help keep prices under control during the holy month of Ramadan.
The traders had made the appeal when they met with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at latter's Secretariat office.
Smooth traffic to and from Chattogram is essential to ensure speedy supply of commodities across the country, they said.
The traders alleged that 800 to 900 goods-laden trucks bound for Bangladesh remained stranded in the Indian territories for four to five days in a row. The long delay in unloading causes damage to a number of perishable food items, they said.
The traders also urged the government to fix the prices of key essential commodities.
City's meat traders told the meeting that they would sit today (Monday) to fix the price of meat during the month of Ramadan. They also urged to initiate measures for stopping the acts of extortion at the Gabtoli livestock market. This would help the traders keep the prices of meat under control.
Shubhashish Bose, secretary of the ministry of commerce, chairman of Bangladesh Tariff Commission, officials concerned and representatives from City Group of Industries, Meghna group, other business groups and traders' associations were present at the meeting.
"We have sufficient stocks of essential items to meet the consumers' demand during the fasting month of Ramadan. Prices of essentials are now stable in the local market barring sugar and onion. Sugar price has started declining in the international markets," the commerce minister said at the meeting.
The traders present at the meeting requested the government to monitor the huge price gap between the wholesale and the retail markets and take necessary actions on this account.
The country has a sufficient stock of onion to meet the demand, traders said. But the item is not reaching the markets in adequate quantities because of the traffic tailbacks on highways, including the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, they said.
Importers, wholesalers and retailers who attended the meeting said they have sufficient stock of gram, onion, sugar, edible oil and lentils.
However, price of some essential items, including onion and sugar have gone up ahead of the holy month. The price of home-grown onion has recorded nearly 50 per cent rise over that prevailed a couple of weeks back. Besides, prices of fish, poultry and vegetables have also recorded rise.
A BSS report from Rangpur added, more than 10,000 tonnes of onion were imported in only seven working days from India through Hili Land Port (HLP) under Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur district, customs officials and importers said.
The daily import of onion increased two to three times last week than that of the previous week through HLP alone to meet increasing demand of the essential commodity during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.
As a result, the onion price has marked a fall by Taka 2 to 3 per kg at different places now in the northern region of the country.
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