Photo : Collected
It’s indeed welcome news from the leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) who urged businesses and traders to ensure supply chain stability and fair profits ahead of the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.
The month-long fasting of the Muslims is expected to commence on 10 March. The FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam has warned of disassociating with those traders who would unethically create a crisis in the market.
He was addressing the retailers, wholesale traders, manufacturers and importers of essential commodities at its head office in Dhaka.
He also gave a clarion call to fight extortion, which caused the rise of the cost of transportation, which impacted upon price sold at the retailers and vendors to the consumer.
It's an open secret that extortionists are not phantoms or ghosts. They are ruling party henchmen aligned with labour unions with a nexus with law enforcement involved in widespread extortion. Traders demand an end to highway toll extortion to curb prices.
The trade body leaders stressed the critical need to ensure a steady supply of goods during Ramadan and called upon trade associations and market committee leaders to monitor the market regularly and prevent artificial crises from arising.
Various market associations have also assured that there would be no shortage of essential products like edible oil, sugar, pulses, gram and dates during Ramadan.
Earlier in last Ramadan, the apex trade leaders were critical of the deployment of joint forces to keep watch on the essentials market during the holy month would not yield the desired outcome.
Well, the idea of joint forces was deployed to monitor the kitchen markets during the tenure of the last military-backed caretaker government.
The trade bodies in cities and district towns were told that a hotline would be established to monitor the extortionists and address the issues with higher authorities. Well, what the business leader meant by higher authorities, was not explained.
Indeed, business community and traders are the lifeline of the economic growth of the country. They are creating jobs, and that's why the country is moving forward so fast.
The soothsayers among the trade bodies advocating a policy of "more sales, less profit," make the consumers laugh.
What was missing from the agenda of discussion among the leader’s apex business bodies and trade organisations from different cities and towns was the issue of “syndicate business” which often appears on the front page of the newspaper and scrolls in news television channels.
The conspicuous silence of the trade bodies on the crucial issue of syndicate business groups responsible for black marketers, hoarding and spiralling price hikes of essential commodities has kept consumers wondering. The government should immediately step in with stern action.
Messenger/Fameema
