The parliamentary standing committee on commerce ministry on Sunday accused the ministry of negligence in taking proper measures to arrest soaring prices before Ramadan.
The committee members at a meeting observed that the market monitoring system of the ministry was not adequate which resulted in scopes for dishonest traders to charge higher prices for commodities, sources attending the meeting said.
'Some dishonest businessmen are involved in making the market unstable because of lack of proper monitoring system by the ministry,' the committee chair, Abul Kashem, told reporters after the meeting. He added that the negligence of the ministry in ensuring proper oversight was also responsible for the price spiral.
He said that the committee had recommended that ministry should strengthen the market monitoring system and take action against the people responsible after identifying them.
The committee also suggested that the ministry should ensure an adequate stock of commodities by making easy the process of goods import, the sources said.
The committee members further suggested that the ministry should change the traditional market monitoring system and find out new ways for market monitoring to identify people who make the market unstable.
The sources said that the ministry had told the committee that they had identified 10 businessmen involved in increasing prices by making an artificial crisis and they were keeping close watch on them.
The ministry officials also told the meeting that committees had been formed to monitor markets at upazila and district levels to check price spiral, the sources said.
'We have identified a number of businessmen involved in increasing prices of essential commodities and we are keeping watch on them,' the commerce minister, Faruk Khan, told New Age after the meeting.
He added that the ministry would take legal measures against businessmen found making an artificial crisis to make the commodity market unstable.
He also said that the ministry teams were monitoring the market to ensure sales of sugar and cooking for the prices the government set earlier.
Committee member Rumana Mahmood, a BNP lawmaker, told New Age
that although the ministry was monitoring the market, the market was still unstable before Ramadan.
'We have recommended that the monitoring system should be strengthened to keep prices stable,' Rumana told New Age, adding that they also demanded that businessmen responsible for the price increase before Ramadan should be identified.
She said that the ministry should take measures to make easy the import process to ensure an adequate stock of commodities.
The BNP lawmaker also said that the parliamentary standing committee would inspect some city markets on the first day of Ramadan for the second time to check whether goods are selling for prices set earlier.
The parliamentary standing committee earlier in April also visited some city markets at Mohammadpur, New Market and Karwan Bazar.
Source : New Age
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