Market monitoring teams to come under review

Rezaul Karim | Published: May 17, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has decided to review the performance and activities of over a dozen teams, deployed to monitor the prices of essentials, officials said. Â
The ministry of commerce (MoC) will hold a meeting today (Sunday) at the secretariat to review the teams' performance, where additional secretary of the ministry Nazneen Begum will chair.
Presently, prices and supply of the different essential items in the capital city are stable. The situation will have to be kept at the tolerable level for the interest of the common people during Ramadan and also throughout the year, an MoC official said.
"The holy Ramadan is just round the corner. For this, the ministry wants to review the performance of the 14 monitoring teams on prices of essential items to identify gaps and enhance the activities of the panels," he said.
However, monitoring activities of kitchen markets in the capital were hampered due to BNP-led 20-party alliance's indefinite blockade of roads, railways and waterways coupled with frequent hartals. During the period, no law-enforcer was available for conducting the kitchen market monitoring in the capital as they remained busy maintaining law and order since early January, he said.
At this moment, the government should take strict measures and increase monitoring activities in the city markets to rein in prices of essential items during the fasting month as the prices of some items that are badly needed in the month of Ramadan have started increasing in the markets.
The supply chain of daily necessities will have to be normal in the capital city and beyond.
In a move to check the price surge of essential commodities in the capital city, the government formed about 14 monitoring teams last year. MoC Joint Secretary Md Sadar Ali Biswas is the coordinator of the market monitoring teams.
"The Sunday's meeting has been called to evaluate the activities and performance of the existing monitoring teams," Mr Biswas told the FE Saturday. Â
Each of the teams consists of nine members drawn from different ministries, government agencies and business associations, according to the MoC.
The teams also comprise representatives from the ministries of commerce, agriculture, home and food, and the Tariff Commission, Dhaka City Corporation, the district administration of Dhaka, Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
The monitoring teams for the Dhaka city markets started their inspection on July 01 last year.
Meanwhile, the government has moved to launch open market sale (OMS) of key essential items such as sugar, soybean oil, lentil, gram and date to keep their prices within the reach of the common people during Ramadan.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) would sell essentials at different parts of the country using 174 trucks including 25 in Dhaka, 10 in Chittagong, five each in divisional cities and two each in 57 district towns
Â Â Â rezamumu@gmail.com