Licence fee for traders of essentials to be raised

The government is set to raise the licence fee by three times for the essential commodities' traders soon, officials said Wednesday. "We will prepare a statutory regulatory order (SRO) soon and send it to the Ministry of Law Affairs for vetting," a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce told the FE. The licence fee was fixed some 30 years back in 1981 and now it deserves to be reviewed, he said. The deputy commissioners last year in a meeting demanded raising of the licence fee in line with the present value of Taka. Under the Essential Commodities Act of 1981 there are 34 items which are defined as essential commodities. Of them licence fee was fixed for 10 items in 1981. Under the Act the metal traders across the country per year pay Tk 1,000, cement traders Tk 500, wholesale fabrics sellers Tk 1,000 and retailers Tk 200, wholesale yarn traders Tk 400 and retailers Tk 100, cigarette Tk 1,000, jewellery dealers Tk 1,000, jewellers Tk 100 and milk food traders Tk 50 as licence fee. Another official said that the ministry has decided to raise the licence fee by three times. He said Taka has been devalued several times during the last 30 years. Earnings of the traders have also risen several times. "So, it's not logical to keep the licence fee the same as was fixed in 1981." Sources said representatives from business community in the last meeting held at the Ministry of Commerce in this connection strongly opposed the decision of raising the licence fee. "The Ministry of Commerce wouldn't meet again with the business community in this connection," another official said. Meantime, the Ministry of Food Affairs last week re-fixed the licence fee, its renewal fee for food grain importers, wholesalers, flour millers, rice millers and OMS dealers. The new licence fee and renewal fee for importers has been fixed at Tk 10,000 and Tk 5,000, wholesalers at Tk 5,000 and Tk 2,500, retailers Tk 1,000 and Tk 500, major and compact flour mills at Tk 2,000 and Tk 100, automatic rice millers at Tk 5,000 and Tk 2,500 and OMS dealers Tk 600 and Tk 300.