This can hardly be a priority compared to tackling the nation wide shortage of marigolds for the PM's motorcade and the lack of infrastructure projects to name after her, her sister, her father, her servants etc.
We need to achieve self-sufficiency in marigolds and launch new infrastructure projects to name before we tackle such minor issues as these.
Price of essentials indeed! The only essential in Bangladesh is that we are independent and able to enjoy it through songs, dance, monuments, speeches and of course through the very existence of the Mujib blood line.
If you are not content with this, you are clearly anti-Liberation and should leave the country immediately. If you cannot leave, learn to be grateful.
Joy Bangla!
Emanur Rahman | m. +447734567561 | e. emanur@rahman.com
Even after satisfactory harvest of Boro this year and stable supply chain, the prices of different varieties of rice remained high in the city's kitchen markets yesterday, said traders. The present stock of rice is satisfactory compared with the previous years, they said. But, the uptrend in rice price has caused concern to the commoners, as they strongly expected that the price of rice would have been decreased to a tolerable level.
The prices of different categories of rice shot up between Tk 2 and Tk 4 per kg for the last one-month in the city's markets, according to traders.
In the city's retail markets, per kg of coarse rice was sold between Tk 27 and Tk 28 in the previous months. But, it was now selling between Tk 30 and Tk 32 per kg.
Minicate was sold between Tk 42 and Tk 44. Nazirshail depending on quality was sold between Tk 42 and Tk 46. Paizam was sold between Tk 35 and Tk 36 yesterday.
During the first quarter part of the current year, the coarse variety of rice was sold between Tk 20 and Tk 24 per kg in the city's kitchen markets.The limited income people especially labourer class were benefited by the price. They are now hard hit by the coarse rice price.Earlier, the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management had introduced Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice to bring stability in the retail level price.
The shut down of OMS might have added price hike of rice especially coarse variety, according to market experts. They suggested Government to reintroduce OMS before the upcoming month of Ramzan.
Trades at Badamtali rice markets told The New Nation that a section of rice mill owners in the northern districts have stocked huge quantity of rice by taking bank loans. They alleged that the unscrupulous mill owners drastically reduced per day quantity of their rice sale to the retailers in recent days, trying to create an artificial price hike.
In the 2008-09 fiscal, the total demand of food in the country was 2 crore 67 lakh metric tonnes against the total production of 2 crore 83 metric tonnes.
The target food production during the current fiscal was earmarked 2 crore 90 lakh metric tonnes against the production of 3 crore 44 lakh metric tonnes, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Presently, there are about 7 lakh metric tonnes of food stock in the government silo, said a source in the Directorate of Food yesterday. The government will take measures to ensure 'price stability' in the rice market by curbing 'machination of profit monger traders', said a highly placed source of the Ministry of Food.
