DNCRP welcomes students to work for stabilising market

Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) Director General (DG) H M Safikuzzaman said the agency welcomes the involvement of students in market monitoring to help stabilise the prices of essential goods.
He said efforts have been taken to ensure stable prices and smooth supply of daily essentials.
He said these during a view-exchange meeting, held at the Karwan Bazar Islamia Shanti Samiti in the capital on Sunday, with the leaders of the Karwan Bazar Aratdar Samity along with wholesale and retail traders.
The DNCRP DG also referred to the decisions made by the advisory council of the interim government on August 29, which focused on maintaining law and order as well as controlling commodity prices.
He noted that the commerce adviser had instructed to ensure stronger market surveillance and investigation into price hike.
Mr Safikuzzaman acknowledged the role of students in the recent anti-discrimination movement, noting their involvement in market surveillance across the country.
He highlighted conducting workshops with university students to enhance their monitoring skill, and opined that now is the time to bring stability in the market.
"The students have done what we could not. We all must work together (to bring positive changes in the country)," he added.
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said despite efforts, prices of daily essentials have not decreased as expected.
Bangladesh Shop Owners Association (BSOA) President Md Helal Uddin proposed introduction of a specialised truck system for transportation of daily goods. He emphasised ensuring fair competition in the market along with fair prices of goods for farmers and consumers.
He also mentioned that DNCRP has been regularly monitoring the market since August 7 to stabilise prices and ensure steady supply of essentials. Collection of the daily extortion in the Karwan Bazar market, previously reported at around Tk 10 million, has now stopped.
However, the BSOA president noted that though extortion has declined, essentials' prices have not decreased significantly, suggesting that extortion may have resumed through new channels or the traders may be taking advantage of the situation.
He called for collecting detailed information from the traders about the extortion levels before and after August 5.
Harun-or-Rashid of FBCCI noted that benefits of the reforms, initiated through the student-led protest, are yet to be fully materialised.
He focused on collaboration of the FBCCI, DNCRP, BSOA, and CAB to address this issue.

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