Security agencies to check hoarders

Usually prices of commodities rise around or just before a special event or festival. The recent example being the abnormal price hike during last Ramadan. Sometimes hoarder try to put the blame on natural calamities, extortion on the highways, disparity in demand and supply etc. But it's been proven that those have very little to do with reality. A group of unscrupulous traders simply take advantage of the lack of regulation on the market. This got to be prevented. The authority must take precautionary measures before situation gets out of control.

However we had seen that the commerce ministry did make some initial suggestions to control the price hike of onions during the Ramadan crisis. But apparently the finance ministry's non-response precipitated the crisis. We don't want a repeat of that. There is only one government and it must get all its various ministries to act in harmony. What was encouraging, though, to learn from the Commerce Minister that the draft of the proposed Consumer Protection Act has been completed and it would be placed before the cabinet soon. Now the consumers of Bangladesh can hope to assert their rights.

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