Clamp down on illegal hoarding of commodities during Ramadan: PM

DE Online Desk
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the field-level administration to take stern action against illegal hoarders of commodities and ensure smooth supply of essential items to the consumers during the upcoming month of Ramadan.
“During the Ramadan, some businesses are there who always want to make extra profit by hoarding the essentials and raising their prices. But we have to pay a special attention to it. It is now one of our immediate duties,” said Sheikh Hasina.
The premier made the directives while opening the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) Conference-2024 at her office in the city.
Divisional Commissioners and deputy commissioners of districts joined the four-day conference, which will conclude on Wednesday, report agencies.
“In the supply chain, problems are created or attempts are made to create artificial crisis of commodities. Some hoarders are there who let goods to be rotten but don’t supply the goods to the market. It needs to take tough legal action in this regard,” she said.
The PM asked the field administration to pay a special attention so that the essential goods could reach to the common people smoothly during the upcoming Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims.
She said though the inflation rate is still within 10 percent in Bangladesh, it is nonetheless a problem.
She directed the officials to intensify monitoring on the market situation and ensure the consumers won’t be subjected to harassment.
The prime minister asked the field administration to take action against food adulteration, boost the local production to reduce dependency on other countries, protect arable lands, raise public awareness for brining larger people under the universal pension scheme, promote formation of cooperatives for agricultural mechanisation to bring all lands under cultivation and maximise the return of cultivation, ensure smooth supply of produced goods to the market, to protect environment by saving everything like river, natural water reservoir and other water bodies, forest and hills.
She put emphasis on containing teenage gangs and addressing the reasons which lead them to engage in such anti-social activities, like snatching, robbery or killing. She asked all including divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and guardians to intensify their monitoring of educational institutes up to upazila and union-level so that the students can’t be engaged in militancy, terrorism, drugs or teenage gangs.