Commerce adviser warns against artificial crisis in food supply chain

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 21 (BSS): Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin said the government will not allow any artificial crisis in the supply chain of food and essential items.

A balanced demand and supply system should be ensured through increasing production and involving more people in trading sector, he said. It will be ensured that the market is not held hostage by a few traders, he added. The adviser was addressing a views-exchange meeting on overall market situation at the circuit house auditorium on Thursday.

Bashir Uddin urged the traders to change their traditional system of transactions, requesting them to keep the memos of transactions at every level -- from wholesale to retail.

"Transactions should be transparent. We want none will manipulate the market," he said.

"Our purpose is not to treat any individual as criminal, but none would be allowed to make the market unstable," he added. The commerce adviser said many middlemen are doing brisk business by selling only the delivery order (DO) and supply order (SO).

They are doing business virtually without handling any goods physically, he said, adding that a tendency has grown in their mind to earn profit by selling DO or SO only. The business leaders should shun this tendency, Bashir said, adding that none would be allowed to disrupt supply chain.

Chattogram divisional commissioner M Tofael Islam presided over the meeting attended by commerce secretary Mohammad Selim Uddin, Director General of the Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection Mohammad Aleem Akhtar Khan, TCB Chairman Brigadier General M Mostafa Iqbal, Chattogram range DIG M Ahsan Habib Polash and student representative Jobayrul Alam Bari.