Devotees purchasing traditional Iftar items at Chawkbazar in old Dhaka on Tuesday to break their fast on the first day of Ramadan — FE photo Braving sweltering heat, fasting city dwellers thronged food outlets across the city to buy Iftar items on Tuesday, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.
But the quality of food remained a great concern to consumers despite the presence of monitoring teams.
Apart from Chawkbazar, a major hub of traditional Iftar items, food outlets like BFC, Mama Halim, RFC, Fakruddin, CP, Fresh Food, Apple Food, Kings, Prince and others remained busy with Iftar sales.
The 300-foot road leading to Purbachal and the 60-foot road stretching between Agargaon and Mirpur have emerged as new Iftar hubs selling both newer and traditional items.
However, Chawkbazar with its usual festive look, located in the old part of the city, attracted hundreds of people like every year, as the traders put varieties of delicious items on display since noon.
Traders said prices of meat-based Iftar items shot up but prices of many other items remained almost stable this year.
More than one hundred items, prepared with meat, milk, sugar, molasses, vegetables, pulses, ice and others, were available at Chawkbazar.
The price of a popular Iftar item called 'Boro Baper Polay Khay' (prepared with beef, brain, chicken, chickpeas, flattened rice, puffed rice, ghee and various spices) has increased by Tk 80-Tk 100 a kg this year due to a surge in beef and chicken prices.
Md Afzal, an employee at Baku Shah's Iftar outlet at Chawkbazar, said they were selling the item at Tk 500-Tk 550 a kg this year, as the beef price increased to Tk 600 a kg in old Dhaka.
Like in the previous years, Haji Md Nur was selling 'Suti kebab' at Tk 800 (beef) and Tk 1000 (mutton) a kg.
Md Ali alias Ghatak Chacha and Md Khokon were selling 'Shahi doi bora' (spicy fried pulses balls dipped in yoghurt) at Tk 200 per ten pieces, an increase of Tk 20 over the previous year.
Although there was a big crowd around his outlet, Md Khokon claimed his sales were not satisfactory as of 4.00pm.
Md Suleman Mia was too busy with the sale of 'Boti Kebab' to talk to any journalists. He was selling kebab at Tk 100 (beef) per cup.
Besides, other popular items such as giant beef, mutton, chicken and duck roasts, koel and pigeon roasts, and jali, irani, tika, chicken suslik, kashmiri kebabs, meat-paratha, giant jilapi, cooked chickpea, mutton and chicken cutlet, kima roll etc. were also available.
Md Maniruzzaman, a trader from Tantibazar in old Dhaka, said my two children are very fond of traditional Iftar items.
"I buy Iftar items, especially Boro Baper Polay Khay, Suti Kebab and Doi Bora, at least four or five times from Chawkbazar during the Ramadan for my family," he said.
He, however, expressed his concern about quality. "The quality remains good for the first one or two days and then starts deteriorating."
Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Md Sayeed Khokon along with DSCC monitoring team visited the market at noon.
But no vendors were found breaching the norms as of 4.00pm during the inspection.
The mayor asked the shop owners to follow best standards regarding food safety while selling Iftar items.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) fined two companies Tk 0.13 million for producing adulterated food items in Chawkbazar area.
Sharif Abdur Rauf, the owner of the Saif Edible and Food Packaging Ltd. at Champatoli, was fined Tk 0.1 million, and Md Russel, manager of Original Bombay Sweets and Chanachur at Chawk Circular Road, Tk 0.03 million, DMP sources said.
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