The government's ongoing efforts have hardly yielded any visible impact on stabilising the market price of essential commodities during the holy month of Ramadan.
As a result, the commoners are bearing the burden as the prices of key essential items remain unchanged at their highs in the city markets.
Despite price fixation of beef and mutton by the Dhaka South City Corporation, many traders were found selling beef and mutton at higher prices at the kitchen markets.
A section of profit monger traders were selling beef at Tk 550 per kg against the DSCC fixed price of Tk 525 and mutton at Tk 800 per kg instead of Tk 750 on Wednesday.
However, the ongoing truck sale of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is yet to cast any positive impact on the market.
Visiting different areas in the capital, the FE correspondent found that the consumers thronged to the TCB trucks.
"I purchased four kgs of sugar, four kgs of peas, five litres of soybean oil and one kg of dates from the TCB truck at affordable and rational rates," Rahima Khatun, a housewife, told the FE at a TCB truck sale point opposite the Motijheel Post Office High School.
She, however, had to wait nearly two hours in the long queue for purchasing the items at cheaper prices than the retail markets.
Not only Rahima, a significant number of lower and middle income group of people were buying essentials from the TCB trucks stationed at Fakirapool, Bangladesh Bank and Dainik Bangla intersections.
The consumers demanded of the government to set up more TCB sales centres in the city.
In the capital, around 35 dealers of TCB are now selling sugar, lentil, peas, soybean oil and dates at subsidised rates.
TCB sells a kg of sugar at Tk 47 while peas at Tk 60, soybean Tk 85 per litre and red lentil Tk 44 per kg.
In the retail markets, a kg of peas now being sold between Tk 85 and Tk 90 while sugar at Tk 55-60 and red lentil between Tk 80 and Tk 110 per kg.
Meanwhile, different government agencies including the ministry of commerce have been carrying out market monitoring drives to control the market price during the month of fasting.
But the drives are seemed to be bringing hardly any positive impact on the market, according to the consumers.
"We will intensify our market monitoring drives considering the interests of the consumers," commerce secretary Md Mofizul Islam told the FE.
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