Limited strength hampers city kitchen market monitoring

Monitoring activities in the city's kitchen markets are being hampered seriously due to lack of required law enforcers during the drives carried out by monitoring teams, officials concerned said.
Presently, no police reserve force is available for conducting the kitchen market monitoring in the city, they said. They have to collect necessary law enforcers from the police stations beside any markets where they go for monitoring.
When contacted, joint secretary of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) Mst Kamrunnaher said, "We have written to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for taking necessary steps in this regard."
A high official of the ministry who deals with the issue told the FE that earlier they had reserve force to conduct the market monitoring. "Now we have no any reserve force. We collect police members from the police stations when go for monitoring."
In most cases, the official said, no law enforcers are available for conducting the kitchen market monitoring.
"If the situation continues, it will be difficult for the authorities concerned to keep the prices of essentials stable in the coming months."
Market monitoring can be carried out smoothly and conveniently if reserve force is kept standby, the official said.
In December last, the government reconstituted 14 teams that monitor price movements and prevent abnormal situation in the city market, a source concerned said.
But the drives carried out by the monitoring teams earlier could not make any visible impact on the market, he added.
No visible impact was noticed with regard to prices of some key items, especially rice and onion, in recent times despite efforts by the monitoring teams, he mentioned.
The government intends to closely monitor the price situation with a view to keeping the prices of essentials within the buying capacity of the common people, a senior official of the ministry of commerce said.
The reconstituted watchdog panels inspect the wholesale and retail prices of essentials in the Dhaka city. They also collect price data and gather information on stock and supply of essentials during their drives, he said.
If any kind of abnormal situation arises in the market, the teams take action by punishing the traders or the businesspeople concerned through on-the-spot mobile courts, according to the MoC information.
The teams also take stern action against the manipulators in line with the existing laws to ensure normal prices of essential items.
The members of the teams have to report to the MoC at 9.15 am every day, according to a market monitoring plan.
"We often sit to evaluate the activities of the teams monitoring the prices of essential items in the capital city. We direct the teams to be more careful about their respective duties and activities throughout the year," a senior official told the FE.

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