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What's the task of the taskforce?

No move to arrest spiralling prices of essentials

Avik Sanwar Rahman
A commerce ministry taskforce to arrest price hike proves ineffective with essential prices spiralling as flood worsens.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has been asked to coordinate the taskforce and monitor essential commodity prices on a day-to-day basis.
Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury called a meeting of the taskforce on July 22, to check pricehike due to floods where members of the taskforce and business representatives were present.
The TCB told the meeting that it analysed the last six months' data on Letters of Credit and checked on the shipment schedules. The analysis showed supply of essential commodities should be ample and there was no reason for price hike unless artificially increased by any organised syndicate.
"There is a possibility of price hike for vegetables as floods damaged farmlands and transportation cost increased because of bad communication," said TCB Chief Officer Abdur Rob Sikder.
"We have singled out transportation as the cause of price hike. But the taskforce did not decide any specific measures. The commerce ministry only said it would try to maintain smooth transportation by road, rail and river routes although it did not specify. If the private sector controls transportation, prices will increase," said a member of the taskforce present in the meeting.
"Commodity prices are stable in the market, and so we don't see any need to intervene. But we have asked the taskforce to monitor prices and asked the district commissioners to check price hike in their areas," said Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed.
The TCB has sought permission to import some essential items such as sugar, salt and onion so that they
could have some bearing on their prices.
"We don't have permission to import, and even if we did, hoarders would have been discouraged to make windfalls," said the TCB chief officer.
Meanwhile, unscrupulous businessmen are cashing in on the flood situation. Adulterated packets of rice saline are selling in the open market.
This may lead to health hazards, alleged the International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB).
Some suppliers tasked with relief work for flood victims are supplying spoiled rice and rotten potato along with allegations of irregularities in the distribution of relief.