To check the price hike of essentials, eight teams of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have started closely monitoring the price situation at different markets in the capital from Wednesday. The move comes in order to keep prices at a tolerable limit during the holy Ramadan.
The teams began work in different kitchen markets throughout the city to oversee the price situation of the essentials, including meat. Earlier, the DSCC formed a ‘market monitoring committee’ comprising different organizations including City Corporations and Consumers Association Bangladesh (CAB) to this end.
On May 6, the Dhaka City Corporation authorities fixed the price of beef at Taka 525 and mutton at Taka 750 per kg for the holy Ramadan. The price was fixed at a meeting between officials of the DSCC and the DNCC and the meat traders in the DSCC office. The meeting also fixed the price of one kilogram of Indian beef at Taka 500, buffalo at Taka 480 and lamb at Taka 650.
The teams led by executive officers of both the DSCC and the DNCC conducted the wildcat drive at different kitchen markets in the city. They visited the city’s Uattara area (region-1) Mirpur (region-2) Mohakhali (region-3) and Mohammadpur (region-5) of DNCC. The regional executive officers led the team during the drives.
On the other hand, officials of DSCC conducted drives at Segunbagicha-Kakrail (region-1), Shantinagar (region-2), Kaptanbazar (region-4) and Dhalpur-Jatrabari (region-5). Magistrates of these regions led the drive. They officials claimed that most of the essential commodities are being sold at the price fixed by the city corporations at different kitchen markets.
However, they admitted that a section of traders was selling essentials at high prices, and were being fined. DSCC region-1 executive magistrate Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told the media, ‘we conducted survey at Segunbagicha and Malibagh. Almost every shop was selling commodities at prices fixed. Super shops were also selling commodities at prices fixed.
‘We found a butcher selling meat at high price, and fined him Tk 50000,’ he added. According to sources, beef was being sold at high rate at Kaptan Bazar, but region-4 magistrate Udoyon Dewan went through that market and found nothing similar with the given information. He also found fixed price list was hung at every shop. City Corporations and department of agricultural marketing have fixed rates of daily essentials for the month of Ramadan. As per their price chart, local beef price was Tk 525 per kilogram (kg), bolder beef Tk 500 and buffalo meat price Tk 480 per kg, and mutton was Tk 750.
