Free smuggling of essentials has severely hit business in Moulvibazar, the country's biggest wholesale market in the Old City, said importers and traders.

The market witnessed drastic slide in business in the last two months because of alarming boom in "informal trade" across the border, they said.

An overwhelming majority of wholesalers from the coun-tiyside have already deserted their traditional shopping centre due to easy availability of smuggled goods in the bordering towns at competitive price, said business circle.

In last week, paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) sought civilian help in curbing smuggling.

Talking to a group of newsmen on Monday, Moulvibazar Merchant Association (MMA) leaders claimed that business plunged to an all-time low over the last couple of months as smuggled goods ranging from spices to powder milk, edible oil. sugar and lentils flooded the domestic markets.

MMA president Md. Enayetullah said "auction manipulations” were destroying the trade and commerce of the country. "Once our BDR personnel confiscate smuggled goods, customs authorities make arrangement for auction and buyers of the goods are given certain time to sell those goods in the open market. But. using the same auction papers time and again, the smugglers' syndicate markets a lot more of

smuggled goods than was auctioned by showing them to be auctioned goods." explained Enayetullah.

The 1200-member association that covers 8,000 wholesale shops at Moulvibazar said that the 373-year old wholesale business hub of the country has been reduced to only a wholesale market for capital Dhaka and its periphery while the rest of the country depends more on easily accessed smuggled goods.

Besides, Moulvibazar is now infested with perennial problems like severe traffic congestion. power failures and poor telephone services.

For over two months, almost 80 per cent telephone lines the shops here have been out of order as underground wires were cut "accidentally" while work was in progress for installing digital telephone lines.

Enayetullah, Sher Mohammad. Md Serajul Haque. Ali Ashgar Kamal, all merchants of Mouivibazar, said they bought a couple of mobile telephones to keep business communications on. "In this modern world of communications, we have become incommunicado while cross-country business deals are being delayed," said a trader.

MMA also opposed preshipment inspection (PSI) system that is being introduced on imports of essentials and said they wanted the government to fix tariff value of each importable item in line with international market price.