High price of daily essentials: Pressure mounts on consumers

Sr. Staff Reporter, Kishoreganj :

There is no good news for consumers from Kishoreganj kitchen markets as it is burning with high prices of daily essentials mounting pressure of fixed income group people.

Vegetables, egg, chicken, green chilli and fish prices have continued to climb in Kishoreganj ‘s kitchen markets since July, with most items now selling above tk.75 per kg. Eggs have also become costlier over thee weeks, leaving many house holds under pressure to manage daily expenses.

The egg market remains heated with red eggs unchanged at tk.145to 150 per dozen and tk.50 per halli. Green chilli at per kg tk. 200.
Retailers are blaming the floods and the wholesalers for the increase in vegetable prices. However, the wholesalers say that retailers are charging higher prices. Buyers say that last year too, various districts were flooded. Prices were not so high then.

The sellers are collecting higher prices from consumers through syndicates. They are charging whatever prices they want. Experts say that due to the shortcomings in market management, unscrupulous groups are repeatedly taking advantage.

After the change of Sheikh Hasina’s Government on August 5 last year, the market management became chaotic. Suddenly, the prices of most things increased Meanwhile, the Department of Agricultural Marketing also says that the prices of most vegetables have increased at the retail level in a year. For example, on August 21 last year, a kg of patol was 30 to 50 taka. Today (Monday) it was sold for tk. 70 to 75 per kg, a price increase of 80 percent. Cucumbers worth 30 to 65 taka were sold for 60 to 80 taka, a price increase of 61 percent. Dhanash worth 40 to 60 taka was sold for 65 to 80 taka yesterday, a price increase of 89 percent. Consumers are having to buy chichinga worth 40 to 60 taka for 50 to 70 taka, a price increase of 41 percent. Barbat worth 50 to 80 taka is sold for 80 to 100 taka, a price increase of 42 percent.

In this regard, Bara Bazar Marchent Association of Kishoreganj, Delowar Hossain Dilu told the New Nation that , ‘The prices of most vegetables have increased over the years. This could be due to various reasons.
Alam Sarowar Tito, President of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) in Kishoreganj, an organization concerned with the interests of consumers, said, that, Market manipulation by dishonest businesses has become a regular practice, resulting in consumer exploitation, and the government is well aware of this.

“There is a major flaw in market management. Therefore, surveillance and monitoring need to be increased. It is necessary to see whether there is any syndicate. If all these things are done in the market, consumers will benefit. Again, it is necessary to see whether farmers are getting a fair price or not. For this, arrangements need to be made to sell their products directly to the consumer level. In this way, consumers will be able to buy products at a lower price, and farmers will also get a fair price” , CAB added.