The government has taken a slew of measures to keep the prices of essential commodities affordable in the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.
These included waiving import duties and taxes as well as withdrawal of margin requirement for opening import letters of credit (LCs), Director General of the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) Md Alim Akhtar told a mock parliamentary debate competition on Saturday.
He said initiatives have been taken to withdraw LC margin on import of edible oil, sugar, gram, lentil, dates and other essential items to rein in prices.
Debate for Democracy organised the competition between Cumilla Victoria College and Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT), on the city's FDC premises, presided over by its Chairman Hassan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron.
The programme was told that thirteen sub wholesale centres would be opened for selling eggs in the city - six in Dhaka North City Corporation and seven in Dhaka South City Corporation - today (Sunday).
Currently, there are only two wholesale markets in Tejgaon and Kaptan Bazar for selling eggs in the capital.
There are allegations that marginal farmers are being affected due to contract farming by corporate entities. The issue is being taken care of to make the supply chain smooth.
Appreciating the government initiative to slash taxes for taming the prices of some key essential commodities, Mr Kiron urged the government to take effective action to dismantle market syndicates and resolve the existing loopholes in the import policy.
"Coordination among the commerce, agriculture, fisheries and livestock ministries is necessary to take timely steps," he added.
Judges of the debate competition were Professor Abu Mohammad Rois, Special Correspondent of the Financial Express Doulot Akter Mala, Journalists Iqbal Ahsan, Md Alamgir Hossain and Atiqur Rahman.
BUBT won the competition on 'Market syndicate is responsible for commodity price hike".
doulotakter11@gmail.com