The law enforcing agencies will launch a massive drive from next week to keep the essentials' prices stable in the local market during the holy month of Ramadan.
Joint forces including police, RAB, BDR and the civil service agencies will strengthen the market monitoring mechanism 15 days ahead of Ramadan, said a commerce ministry official quoting a recent recommendation of an inter-ministerial meeting.
'The agencies will take legal action, if any mismatch is found in retail and wholesale prices,' he said.
The inter-ministerial monitoring committee held the meeting recently with additional secretary Golam Mostakim in the chair.
The law-enforcing agencies will monitor the delivery orders (DO) and sales vouchers of edible oil to find out any price mismatch.
Every year prices of essential commodities go beyond the reach of the middle income group, which has forced the government to initiate such major steps ahead of the month, the official said.
The businessmen can make profit from sale of their products, but it should be at a reasonable level, he observed.
The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management has been monitoring essentials' prices and the position of stocks in all 64 districts on a regular basis, the official disclosed.
The government has a rice stock of over 1.0 million (10 lakh) tonnes, which is the highest in eight years. Last year the stock accounted for only 0.67 million (6.7 lakh) tonnes.
The authorities will seek help of the agriculture ministry to increase production of agricultural products like cucumber, bringal, green pepper to meet the additional demands of Ramadan.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 3,000 tonnes of edible oil, 3,000 tonnes of lentil, 500 tonnes of onion, 500 tonnes of gram and 300 tonnes of sugar on an urgent basis before Ramadan.
The Fisheries Development Corporation (FDC) will sell fish in open market places while Milkvita will increase production of liquid milk to meet the additional demands during the month, the official mentioned.
Meanwhile, the country's apex chamber body has decided to open one fair price shop in every district to help the government in its relentless effort to rein in prices of essentials during Ramadan.
