Are the days of distributing favour to a selected few through licence and permits back? Officially speaking, there is nothing like it. But one particular action says otherwise. The action relates to import of one essential item -- salt.
With a view to meeting the demand and supply gap of salt, the ministry of commerce on August 14 last, reportedly, granted permission to import 75,000 tonnes of edible salt and an equivalent amount of the item for industrial use. The chief controller of imports and exports made available the permission letters to 121 salt mills to import 620 tonnes of edible salt each. One hundred twenty more mills got identical letters for importing 625 tonnes of industrial salt each. The move is, reportedly, on to allow the import of another 100,000 tonnes.
Allegations have it that a good number of salt mills that have got permission to import salt are out of operations for a long time. These mills have in the meanwhile, allegedly, sold out the import permission to a section of large sugar mills and fetched between Tk 2.0 to Tk 2.5 million. The owners of the large salt refiners have said they had no other option but to buy the permission letters to keep their mills running. The money spent on such unauthorised purchase would, obviously, pass on to the consumers. Â
The retail price of salt has gone up substantially in recent days. The salt millers have hiked the price citing production shortage as the main reason.
Retailers said the price of edible salt has gone up by Tk10 to Tk15 a kilogram over a period of two weeks. The industrial salt has also become pricier on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. Tanners would have to pay extra amount on processing of rawhide because of the increase in price of salt.
The salt to be imported against the permission given by the government has not yet arrived. But given the transactions made over import permission letters, the price of salt is unlikely to come down even after the arrival of imported salt. The situation would ease only when local production of salt returns to its normal level.
The salt millers, according to a media report, have decided to reduce the price of consumable salt by Tk 2.0 a kg to Tk38. The prevailing price of the item is, however, more than that.
A leading Bangla contemporary ran a story on irregularities in salt import. When a reporter of the daily sought response to allegations of irregularities from the officials concerned, the replies received were not at all convincing. It seems that the government agencies concerned had not been diligent enough while granting permission letters for imports. Whether the negligence was deliberate or not can only be ascertained through thorough probe. But whether that would ever be done remains anybody's guess.
The commerce ministry quite justifiably decided to allow import of salt to help keep the price of the item stable in the open market. But there are a few questions about timing and method applied for import.
The domestic production of salt was well below the normal level during the last two seasons. All concerned were aware of an impending shortage. Yet appropriate measures were not taken in time. The government should have allowed import of salt some months back to offset the impact of domestic production shortage on the market. Moreover, instead of keeping the import of salt restricted to a selected few, it should have been made open to all salt millers. Restriction in trade, in most cases, does invite troubles. What is happening now over salt import is a glaring example.
The delay in taking a decision on salt import has also caused delay in the arrival of salt. Import of any item does take time. The authorities concerned should have taken into account all issues relating to the import of an essential item like salt.
The ill-effect of restricted trade that favours a selected few had been felt during the post-liberation years. There was severe scarcity of a good number of essential items at that time. Consumers had to make long queues before state-sponsored sales stores, used to be known as Coscor, for a few essentials. However, with the gradual opening up of the economy since the latter part of the 70s, the situation started changing notably.
It is expected that the official agencies concerned would be serious about protecting the interests of general consumers. If they fail in their duty to do so, frustration grips the latter. For example, the government on September 05 last, raised the maximum retail price of sugar produced by the state-owned sugar mills to Tk 70 a kg. Many consumers had switched over to sugar produced by public sector mills. But the latest hike might force them to reverse their decision. The perennially loss-making government sugar mills have found the current situation as an opportunity to reduce their financial loss. But the fact remains that it would never be possible for these obsolete and worn-out mills to reach even a break-even point, financially.
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Salt import proves too salty
Shamsul Huq Zahid | Published: September 12, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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