City Desk :
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Monday warned that the government will take stern action against anyone found hoarding rice stocks.
He told the corporate organizations that they should refrain from buying paddy by competing in the market, reports UNB.
The minister was talking at a meeting with the representatives of six corporates of the country in his office at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday afternoon.
The food minister said, “I had a meeting with the millers and they said that the corporates are competing and are buying paddy and stocking it.”
“They (millers) point the finger at you. We want to know the real facts,” the minister added.
He said that rice is available in the market under different brand names, on which the maximum retail price is written.
“We also want the attachment of the millers’ price. If so, retailers cannot raise prices suddenly or unreasonably,” he mentioned.
Food Secretary Ismail Hossain said that regular monitoring is being carried out to see if anyone is buying paddy or rice for illegal stockpiling.
“If someone tries to store beyond the capacity, we will review the storage capacity if necessary.”
Representatives of City Group, Square, Pran RFL, Meghna Group, ACI and Akiz Essential participated in the meeting.
At that time, they agreed to write the price of the millers on the sack and assured their full cooperation.