Committees to monitor prices of essentials
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
FE Report
In an effort to contain the soaring prices of essentials, the government Monday divided the capital into four zones and formed four separate committees with representatives from different ministries and the Dhaka City Corporation to monitor the prices of essentials traded in the markets in each zone during the holy month of Ramadan, sources said.
Besides, the ministry decided to start selling of essential items through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh from tomorrow (Wednesday) at prices lower than those in the market.
The decisions were taken Monday at an inter-ministerial meeting, held at the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce with its Additional Secretary Mostafa Mohiuddin in the chair. Officials from ministries of Agriculture, Industries, Fisheries and Livestock, Home and DCC attended the meeting.
Each committee will be assigned to monitor the prices of essentials in markets within a particular area in the city. The prime responsibility of the committee members will be to watch the retail and wholesale businessmen's compliance with order to display rate charts of essential commodities supplied by the DCC, meeting sources said.
The home ministry may nominate a Police or RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) official in each of the committees, which will be headed by commerce ministry officials, they added.
The committee members would submit report to ministry against any trader violating the rate fixed by the DCC, the meeting also decided.
The prices of only 10 essential commodities will be monitored by the committees as their prices the same fluctuate often, a high official in the ministry said.
The essential items to be monitored are rice, wheat, sugar, edible oil, lentil, chick-peas, onion, dates, milk and egg.
The kitchen markets namely, Kawranbazar, Mohammadpur, Newmarket, Kolmilata Bazar, Mirpur-1 and Hatirpool Bazar will fall under zone one, while Shantinagar, Gulshan, Mohakhali, Malibagh, Rampura, Motijheel and Khilgaon Taltala kitchen markets fall under the zone two.
The kitchen markets of Kaptanbazar, Fakirapool, Jatrabari, Dayagong, Dhupkhola and Sutrapur have been placed under zone three, while Shahbag, Babubazar, Moulovibazar and Nababgong Bazar kitchen markets are in the zone four.
The TCB ill start selling of essential commodities in the capital from tomorrow ahead of the Ramadan. Initially, only soybean oil and sugar will be sold from above 200 outlets of the TCB, a commerce ministry official said.
The price for per kg sugar has been fixed at Tk 39 and per litre Soybean at Tk 52.70, it is learnt. Initially, 12,500 metric tones of sugar and 1,000 metric tones of edible oil will be sold by the dealers of TCB from tomorrow, sources said.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry on Sunday fixed the mill-gate price of sugar at Tk 39 per kilogram, at the wholesale market Tk 39-40 a kg and at retail level Tk 41-42 a kg.
However, the sugar was being sold at Tk 44-Tk 46 a kg at the city's retail markets including those at Shantinagar and Malibag on Monday, defying government's instruction.
The government, to rein in the soaring prices, has withdrawn the import duty of Tk 4,000 per tonne on raw sugar and cut the duty on finished sugar to Tk 4000 from Tk 7000 a tonne.
In an effort to contain the soaring prices of essentials, the government Monday divided the capital into four zones and formed four separate committees with representatives from different ministries and the Dhaka City Corporation to monitor the prices of essentials traded in the markets in each zone during the holy month of Ramadan, sources said.
Besides, the ministry decided to start selling of essential items through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh from tomorrow (Wednesday) at prices lower than those in the market.
The decisions were taken Monday at an inter-ministerial meeting, held at the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce with its Additional Secretary Mostafa Mohiuddin in the chair. Officials from ministries of Agriculture, Industries, Fisheries and Livestock, Home and DCC attended the meeting.
Each committee will be assigned to monitor the prices of essentials in markets within a particular area in the city. The prime responsibility of the committee members will be to watch the retail and wholesale businessmen's compliance with order to display rate charts of essential commodities supplied by the DCC, meeting sources said.
The home ministry may nominate a Police or RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) official in each of the committees, which will be headed by commerce ministry officials, they added.
The committee members would submit report to ministry against any trader violating the rate fixed by the DCC, the meeting also decided.
The prices of only 10 essential commodities will be monitored by the committees as their prices the same fluctuate often, a high official in the ministry said.
The essential items to be monitored are rice, wheat, sugar, edible oil, lentil, chick-peas, onion, dates, milk and egg.
The kitchen markets namely, Kawranbazar, Mohammadpur, Newmarket, Kolmilata Bazar, Mirpur-1 and Hatirpool Bazar will fall under zone one, while Shantinagar, Gulshan, Mohakhali, Malibagh, Rampura, Motijheel and Khilgaon Taltala kitchen markets fall under the zone two.
The kitchen markets of Kaptanbazar, Fakirapool, Jatrabari, Dayagong, Dhupkhola and Sutrapur have been placed under zone three, while Shahbag, Babubazar, Moulovibazar and Nababgong Bazar kitchen markets are in the zone four.
The TCB ill start selling of essential commodities in the capital from tomorrow ahead of the Ramadan. Initially, only soybean oil and sugar will be sold from above 200 outlets of the TCB, a commerce ministry official said.
The price for per kg sugar has been fixed at Tk 39 and per litre Soybean at Tk 52.70, it is learnt. Initially, 12,500 metric tones of sugar and 1,000 metric tones of edible oil will be sold by the dealers of TCB from tomorrow, sources said.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry on Sunday fixed the mill-gate price of sugar at Tk 39 per kilogram, at the wholesale market Tk 39-40 a kg and at retail level Tk 41-42 a kg.
However, the sugar was being sold at Tk 44-Tk 46 a kg at the city's retail markets including those at Shantinagar and Malibag on Monday, defying government's instruction.
The government, to rein in the soaring prices, has withdrawn the import duty of Tk 4,000 per tonne on raw sugar and cut the duty on finished sugar to Tk 4000 from Tk 7000 a tonne.