Heavy rush at iftar outlets on first day of Ramadan

The iftar outlets in the capital, especially at Chawkbazar, saw a heavy rush on the first day of holy Ramadan on Monday.
Chawkbazar is the most famous and biggest market for traditional iftar items in the Old Dhaka,
Like the previous years, the traders arranged a variety of items at Chawkbazar since Monday afternoon with around 30-metre-long lane occupied by nearly 250 vendors bustling with shoppers from all localities.
Prices of almost all high-value items were static while usual products showed a mixed trend this year, this correspondent found while visiting the city iftar outlets.
About 90 items prepared from meat, vegetables, sweet, milk, pulse, ice and other materials were available at Chawkbazar.
Print and electronic media people, police and government monitoring teams were also seen among the crowd.
Two vendors were fined Tk 2,000 and Tk 1,000 respectively by mobile courts led by executive magistrates under the Dhaka Deputy Commissioner's office for selling products in a unhygienic way on the day.
Executive magistrate Raselul Kabir told the FE that their vigilance team would monitor the Chawkbazar outlet throughout the month of Ramadan.
 "Hundreds of people take iftar items from Chawkbazar. We are conducting mobile courts to ensure safe food for the devotees," he said.
However, despite presence of mobile courts or television cameras, people were seen busy in buying iftar items.    
Two new iftar items were found at the Chawkbazar outlet. These are 'Koel Kathi Kabab' (Tk 80 per piece) and Shrimp Chop namely 'Delhi ka Laddu'(Tk 15 per piece) which were being sold by Md Khokon, successor of late Md Kamin Mahajan, one of the earlier sellers of the traditional item 'Boro Baper Polay Khai (literally meaning 'rich father's son eats').'
Md  Khokon claimed his grandfather (late Md Kamin Mahajan) first introduced 'Boro Baper Polay Khai' at Chawkbazar.
Other chefs Haroon Baburchi and Md Salekin said  their father or grandfather first started selling the item which was earlier called 'Sheikh Churra Bharta'.
 "My grandfather late Md Fatik Chan Bapari first introduced 'Sheikh Churra' in the name of Boro Baper Polay Khai," he also claimed.
However, the most popular delicacy is a mixture of chickpeas, brains, minced meat, potato, chira, egg, chicken, spices and ghee.
Taking to the FE, Md Salekin said its price hasn't increased this year and is being sold at Tk 300-Tk 350 per kg.
Md Khokon Mia was selling the same item at Tk 350-Tk 380 per kg saying that his one is the best in quality.
The delicacy was so popular that it went out of the market by 4.30 pm, long before the official time for breaking fast.
The most famous items, however, included giant beef and mutton roasts.
Eighteen kinds of kebabs including Suti, Jali, Irani, Tikea, Chicken Suslik, Boti, Muthi, Kathi, Shami, Kalia, Beguni, Bora, Pakora, Singara, Shamucha, Mutton and Chicken Cutlet, Kima Roll (a roll of chopped meat), Kima Parata, Vegetable Parata,  Borhani, Matha and roasts of pigeon, koel, hen and duck were available in Chawkbazar with the prices rising by Tk 2 to Tk 10 per piece or per kg, compared to last year.
Like previous years, Jummon Mian was selling chickpea curry and Dubri mash (dubri is a local pea) at Tk 100 and Tk 70 per kg respectively.
Abdul Jabbar and Md Iqbal Hossain attracted buyers' attention with famous 'Shahi Doi Bora (fried and spiced pulse balls dipped in yoghurt). They sold  12 pieces of boras at Tk 150, Tk 10 more than last year's.
Md Iqbal Hossain said he was expecting Tk 5,000 from sales every day.
Shahi Halim (cooked meat with lentil and spices) sold at Tk 350 a pot. Normal Halim was sold at Tk 250 (beef) and Tk 300 per big pot. The prices were the same last year.
Talking to the FE, Md Mahmud Ali, a cloth merchant at Urdu Road said, "We come here as it's a tradition of Old Dhaka to break fast with Chawkbazar's iftar items."
"We have been coming to the place since our childhood to buy iftar items. My family members including me like the special items of the market," he said.
"I bought a few special items including Sheikh Churra, Shuti Kabab, Rosh Boroi and Doi Bora for my family to give them a taste of the items on the first day of Ramadan", he said.
Various types of seasonal fruits were also available at the lane.
Traders in other parts of the capital also prepared varieties of iftar items and displayed those in their stalls. Star Kabab, Laziz, RFC, BFC, HFC, Fakruddin, Pintumiar Shahi Iftary at Dhanmondi, Mama Halim at Kalabagan and other iftar outlets at Baily Road, Gulshan, Mirpur, Banani were also busy with sales.
The five-star hotels in the capital also offered lucrative items for the upper class of the society.
Besides the brands, hundreds of makeshift shops sprang up on the first day of Ramadan at different places opposite to markets and mosques, at intersections and lanes.
The most common items for iftar for all classes in the capital are date and sharbat, then chickpea curry, muri (puffed rice), beguni (a popular fried item prepared by slice of eggplant mixed with pulse powder or besan), potato chop, piyaju (made with finely chopped onion with pulse paste), pakowra and other fried items.
Khademul Hasan, a vendor at Azimpur area, told the FE that prices of chickpea curry even fell this year compared to last year as per kg raw chickpea now sells at Tk 60-65 which was Tk 70-75 last year.
Prices of edible oil and spices for cooking chickpeas are also static compared to those of last year, he said.
Muri, another usual iftar item, sold at Tk 60-70 per kg (normal) and Tk 100 per kg (Barisal variety). Prices were the same compared to last Ramadan, Md Arshad Hossain, a muri and chira seller at Nawabganjbazar in the city said.
The essential salad item cucumber sold at Tk 55-60 per kg, a Tk 25-30 increase in a week while tomato price surged to Tk 70-80 a kg as it is off-season.
Prices of different kinds of fruits increased by 20 per cent to 25 per cent in last three days. Prices of different varieties of mango surged to Tk 100-Tk 150 per kg.
Apple, pineapple, banana, bangi, watermelon, guava, grapes, malta etc also turned pricey. The most essential fruit 'date' of different varieties sold between Tk 70 and Tk 450 per kg.