Cabinet orders action against rice hoarders

Now the cabinet orders prompt action against any hoarding of rice, as the government moves to stem the tide of price rises despite different drives.
Officials said the cabinet issued the directive from its meeting held Monday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair -- in the wake of rice-price spiral in particular even when the boro-paddy harvest has yet to be over, report agencies.
"Commerce, food, and agriculture ministers and their secretaries have been asked to take immediate steps to find out reasons behind rice-price hike, through monitoring and supervision, although the full harvesting season of rice is going on," Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said in a post-meeting briefing.
Briefing journalists at the Cabinet Division boardroom, he said the cabinet held talks on market mechanisms to check price of rice and oils.
Replying to a query, the cabinet secretary said many companies, without taking government permission or authority, have been engaged in rice trading.
"The cabinet orders immediate action to check unauthorised rice trading by any company, or any sort of rice stockpiling," he added.
Mr Anwarul notes that one company abroad does one specific business against a memorandum of association (MoA) while in Bangladesh many modes of business are done with same MoA.
The ministry concerned has been asked to check the matter with business practices in other countries to see what they are doing in giving a MoA, he said.
Furthermore, the cabinet asked the authorities concerned to find out those who are behind "illegal stockpiling" of rice and the places where they hoarded it.
The cabinet secretary informed that the government is committed to flushing out the stockpiled rice, likewise oil retrieval.
In response to another question, he said no discussion was held about import of rice.
An instruction was given to the commerce minister, the food minister, the commerce secretary, the food secretary and the agriculture secretary to sit for a meeting for conducting the market survey soon to fix the problem.