Traders fined for doubling prices at Ctg city market

CHITTAGONG, June 19: A mobile court of the district administration here has fined three vegetable vendors Tk 45,000 and jailed five others for different terms for hiking prices of essentials on the first day of Ramadan.
The district administration had announced earlier that it would conduct mobile courts in the city's retail kitchen markets from day one of the Holy Ramadan to monitor the market price of essential commodities.
Deputy Commissioner and district magistrate of Chittagong Md Mesbah Uddin conducted the mobile court while executive magistrate Ashraful Alam assisted him.
On the first Ramadan the magistrates conducted the mobile court at the city's biggest retail kitchen market, Reazuddin Bazar. They found that the wholesalers and retailers doubled the prices of most of the vegetables in the afternoon from the level in the morning.
Two owners of wholesale depots Md Jashim and Abul Bashar were fined Tk 30,000 and 10,000 respectively while Shahidul Islam, a retailer, was fined Tk 5,000 for hiking the prices. The court has ordered 15 days' jail for sellers of green chili and other vegetables. Those to suffer imprisonment are Md Jony (15 days), Aminur Rahman (seven days), Ratan Chakraborty (seven days), Rafiqul Islam (seven days) and Atahar Hossain (seven days).
 The Office of the Deputy Commissioner also asked the city dwellers to inform the administration about sale of date-expired consumer goods, import, processing, supply and black marketing of adulterated vermicelli, ghee and other food items laced with chemicals.
People were asked to inform assistant commissioners and executive magistrates Ashraful Alam, Asif Imtiaz and Habibul Hasan of it on their cell phones.
Prices of most vegetable items, onions, chick peas and different kinds of fish doubled on Friday in the port city, the first day of Ramadan. Traders at Reazuddin Bazar said the supplies of fish and vegetables to the market were normal. But prices shot up by almost 100 per cent from the level of last week. Eggplant was selling at Tk 60 per kg at the kitchen markets against Tk 30 per kg last week, tomato Tk 80 a kg against Tk 40, potato Tk 22 against Tk 18, green chili Tk 60 against 30 and cucumber Tk 40 against Tk 25.