Although the government has formed a special task force to arrest unusual price hike, it has impacted little on the kitchen market, as the syndicate continues to line their pockets.
Consumers allege that price of every item is soaring every day as the authorities concerned have no control in the kitchen market.
Hasnat Abdullah, one of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement coordinators on his facebook post mentioned that even eggs travel four hands at Karwan Bazar.
Traders blamed the syndicate for the rise of prices of essentials saying that the syndicate should be disbanded first.
In the wake of reckless price hike, the Interim Government on Monday formed the 10-member special task force at the district level to oversee the market situation and supply chains of daily essentials.
Additional deputy commissioner of a district leads the team as convener while the assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection acts as its member secretary.
Expressing sheer frustration, people think that the move may not work to curb high prices of essentials.
Citing examples, they say that even the prices of vegetable, chicken, beef and other essential commodities rose once again in Banani Kitchen Market following the departure of the Commerce Ministry’s market monitoring team on Thursday.
Witnesses said the prices of various items dropped by Tk 15 to Tk 50 when the monitoring team was present. But the price shot up soon after the departure of the team.
Commerce Ministry deputy secretary Sultana Akhter conducted the market inspection at around 11:00am.
Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection assistant director Magfur Rahman and other officials were also present during the inspection.
Sultana told reporters that they urged the traders to hang the price list of items.
“We have also issued a note of warning to some traders for not updating and preserving the price list,” she said, claiming that the price of egg, onion and potato dropped slightly in comparison to the previous days.
During the visit, the market appeared to comply with the ministry's pricing standards as price lists were visibly hung in different shops, showing beef being sold at Tk 750 per kg, mutton at Tk 1,000, broiler chicken at Tk 200 per kg, Sonali chicken at Tk 280 per kg, eggs at Tk 160 per dozen, potatoes at Tk 55 per kg, green chilli at Tk280 per kg, local onions at Tk 115 per kg, and Indian onions at Tk 110 per kg.
Shortly after the officials left the market, the prices surged again with beef price rising to Tk 780 per kg, while that of broiler chicken to Tk 220 per kg, Sonali chicken to Tk 300 per kg, potatoes to Tk 60 per kg, local onions to Tk 120 per kg, and green chilli to Tk 300 to Tk 320 per kg.
A trader said that they were compelled to adhere to the ministry’s price list during the inspection to avoid fines.
“We were warned to follow the prices fixed by the Ministry. But selling at these prices means we can barely cover our costs,” said the trader.
“The wholesale prices are higher than what is mandated, and we are not at fault here. The wholesale syndicate should be broken first; otherwise, retail traders like us will continue to struggle under such inspections,” the trader added.
Visiting different kitchen markets including Kaptan Bazar and Ananda Bazar on Thursday, this correspondent found that eggs were selling at Tk 170 per dozen like previous week.
Besides, both broiler and sonali chicken prices was increased by Tk 10 to 20 per kg compared to last week. These were sold at Tk 210 and 280 per kg respectively.
Rais Mia, a private employee, said that, “Egg is now an item of the rich. Egg has become an aspirational commodity for low-income people like us.”
Meanwhile, beans (borboti) was selling at Tk 120 while ribbed gourd at Tk 80, bitter gourd at Tk 100, ladies finger at Tk 80, snake gourd at Tk 80, pointed gourd (potol) at Tk 80, spiny gourd at Tk 80 per kg which were sold at Tk 80, 70, 70, 70, 70, 60, 60 per kg last week respectively.
Besides, Carrot, brinjal, bean, tomato were selling beyond the purchasing power of ordinary buyers at Tk 160, 140, 300, 240 respectively.
Potato was selling at Tk 60 as previous week whereas the price of onion has increased by Tk 10 from last week to 130 taka per kg.
Regarding the price of potatoes and onions not reducing, a buyer Md Mostafa said, ‘I heard that the government has reduced the duty on potato and onion but we are not getting any benefit from it.’
The fish market is also as high as before.
Meanwhile, the price of palm oil has increased by Tk 20 per kg. Palm oil was being sold at Tk 170 per kg which was Tk 150 per kg last week.
The price of a 5-litre bottle of soybean oil has also increased by Tk 8 over the past week. It is now sold at Tk 808, up from Tk 800.
Expressing frustration, Milton Mia, another buyer, said although the government is conducing drives in the kitchen market, we are not able to buy daily necessities at low prices.
“We are forced to eat less as low-income people like us cannot afford to buy daily essentials at such high prices,” he added.
