The Director General (Additional Secretary) of National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate AHM Safikuzzaman informed that a group of miscreants has disrupted the entire rice market through sending SMS. He warned them saying, “We will take struct measudes against those who are doing this in every Upazila and district”.
He expressed this expression while speaking in an exchange meeting after visiting the wholesale market of rice in Fariapatti and Chawkbazar area of Barisal city on Saturday, January 27, in the morning.
AHM Safikuzzaman said, there are hundreds of rice mills in North Bengal. They are similarly aligned. This gang increases the price of rice by promoting that the price of paddy has increased across the country. 17 crore consumers are being cheated by a few vested interest groups. What was done earlier with potatoes, broiler chickens, eggs, today is being done with rice, tomorrow with onions. And we have a strict stance against them.
The Director General said, if the price of paddy has increased, that rice will come to the market after two months i.e., in the month of Baisakh. But it is unreasonable to increase the price of previous paddy rice in a gap of 15 days. And we are working against unreasonable things.
He said that the same rice is getting more or less Tk 4.50 in the same voucher for the same period within 15 to 20 days. That is, the rice that arrived at the end of December and between January 10 and 12 only a few days apart, there is a difference of 4 taka between Faridpur and Kushtia.
Safikuzzaman said, no such deviation was found in Barisal. They are buying rice at the price and selling it at a small profit. But there are thousands of sacks of rice. The district administration and the local officials of the consumer department have been instructed to investigate and see if the rice purchased at a low price is being stocked and sold at a higher price. Because if stock rice is sold at a higher price, that is also a big scam.
He also said that we are taking information from Barisal or wherever wholesale and retail rice is being sold. And with the information from here, I will investigate the source from which the price is being increased. If there is a violation, I will seal it if necessary and take it under the law.
At this time, he said that the National Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection is working to prevent manipulation of Ramadan products including pulses, sugar, oil on the occasion of the upcoming Ramadan.
After visiting the market, he attended a discussion meeting organized by the National Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection with the participation of various levels of stakeholders including business representatives in order to stabilize the price of rice, edible oil and daily necessities.
