Department of Agriculture Marketing has sought cooperation from deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of all the districts to keep supply and prices of commodities stable during the Ramadan.
Director Md Mahbub Ahmed sent letters to the district-level administrative and police officers recently soliciting their help.
Prices of several commodities, including onion, chilli, potato, lentil, edible oil, milk, fruits, and spices have skyrocketed before the fasting month due to sharp rise in their demands.
The letter says: “Department of Agriculture Marketing has made all sorts of efforts to keep market prices and supply of agriculture commodities stable.”
Steps needed to be taken to ensure uninterrupted flow of goods and check extortion to maintain stability in prices and supply of all kind of commodities including agriculture produces, it said.
“Transportation cost increases abruptly if vehicular movement is interrupted. It also raises prices of commodities exorbitantly,” the letters read.
In another letter, the Department suggested strengthening the functioning of district-level taskforce committees and monitoring of market during Ramadan.
Ramadan may begin on June 18 subject to sighting of moon.
Fish prices up
Prices of different varieties of fish have increased by Tk 15-50 per kilogram in Dhaka markets in last two weeks.
Traders attributed the price rise to death of fish in ponds due to recent increase in temperature and problem in their preservation because of ice crunch due to power crisis.
A section of consumers, however, believes traders have increased the prices considering that beef has also become dearer ahead of Ramadan.
Per kg of pangasius, tilapia and farmed ‘koi’ were being sold at Tk 200, Tk 15 up from the prices two weeks ago.
Prices of several other varieties of fish rose by up to Tk 50 a kg.
Jatrabarhi Wholesale Traders Multipurpose Association President Abu Bakkar Siddique told bdnews24.com that supply of fish had come down as ponds and water-bodies had dried up.
“That’s why prices have increased a bit. The prices will come down as monsoon has arrived,” he said.
Vegetables prices however remained by and large stable in the last week. But eggplants got pricier by Tk 10 a kg.
Onion pricier in Chittagong
Prices of onion increased in the port city in the last one week. But prices of other vegetables remained almost unchanged.
Per kg of Indian variety of onion was sold at Tk 36-40 on Friday against Tk 28-32 last week.
Md Kamal Hossain, a trader at Reazuddin Bazar, told bdnews24.com prices of the commodity had increased by Tk 4-6 within two days.
Source: bdnews24