Fertiliser smuggling
Monday, 11 February 2008
The special committee on law and order has directed the law enforcement bodies to take vigorous measures to stop the smuggling out of fertilisers to neighbouring countries. Fertilisers in those countries are much higher priced which provides the incentives to smugglers.
But how does Bangladesh benefit from it ? Not in any way. According to reports in the national media, a substantial quantity of fertilisers on average, annually, is smuggled out to Myanmar and India through the porous borders. This amount produced in the country or imported with precious foreign currency, are lost to the country on a regular basis. The question that cannot help but arise therefore is : whether Bangladesh should produce or import this vital agro-input not for its own use but for its neighbours.
And why does the border security agency need to be specially directed to stop its smuggling ? Is it not maintained from the public purse in style only to prevent such smuggling ? If it has not been doing its job satisfactorily, will it help to tell the border guards afresh to do so ? Will it change anything ?
Farmers in the country are wailing for fertilisers. They are not getting it in sufficient quantities . But the smugglers of it are enjoying a heyday. This is simply unacceptable. It cannot go on like this. Government must think up better solutions than only issuing directives.
Nasim Ahmed
Uttara, Dhaka
But how does Bangladesh benefit from it ? Not in any way. According to reports in the national media, a substantial quantity of fertilisers on average, annually, is smuggled out to Myanmar and India through the porous borders. This amount produced in the country or imported with precious foreign currency, are lost to the country on a regular basis. The question that cannot help but arise therefore is : whether Bangladesh should produce or import this vital agro-input not for its own use but for its neighbours.
And why does the border security agency need to be specially directed to stop its smuggling ? Is it not maintained from the public purse in style only to prevent such smuggling ? If it has not been doing its job satisfactorily, will it help to tell the border guards afresh to do so ? Will it change anything ?
Farmers in the country are wailing for fertilisers. They are not getting it in sufficient quantities . But the smugglers of it are enjoying a heyday. This is simply unacceptable. It cannot go on like this. Government must think up better solutions than only issuing directives.
Nasim Ahmed
Uttara, Dhaka