& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Onion prices go up for hartal

Star Business Report
Onion prices rose further at both retail and wholesale markets in Dhaka yesterday amid fears of a supply crunch for the countrywide shutdown and export price hike by India.
Prices went up by Tk 2-Tk 5 a kilogram at retail levels, a day after the government started selling the item in the open markets at Tk 65 a kilogram. Trading Corporation of Bangladesh sold the item at Tk 55 a kilogram prior to Eid-ul-Azha.
Nasir Hossain, a retailer at Karwan Bazar kitchen market, sold the locally grown variety at Tk 100 a kilogram in the afternoon yesterday; on Saturday, he sold the same forTk 97.
FROM PAGE Bl
"Supply is tight ahead of the shutdown," Hossain said.
Both retailers and wholesalers pointed the finger at the onion price hike in India, which raised the export price by $200 to $ 1,150 a tonne on Friday.
The 60-hour shutdown starting today also caused prices to soar as the item cannot be transported to different parts of the country, said Md Alamgir Hossain, an onion importer at Bhomra land port.
Prices of imported onions rose toTk 83-85 a kilogram yesterday at Bhomra from Tk 77-80 the day before, he added.
The import price ranged between Tk 77 and Tk 85 at different land ports through which the commodity enters Bangladesh from India.
"We are in danger as no vehicle owner is ready to carry goods from Bhomra to
Dhaka or Chittagong due to the hartals."
Several hundred trucks carrying onions were stranded on the Indian side as traders demanded the new export price, said Harun Ur Rashid, convener of an importers' group of Hili land port, Dinajpur.
A total of 20 onion laden trucks with a capacity of 20 tonnes each entered the Hili land port after 4pm yesterday, he added.
Meanwhile, TCB yesterday sold onions atTk 65 a kilogram through 179 trucks in the divisional cities and district towns, including 30 trucks in Dhaka, said Humyaun Kabir, spokesperson for the government agency. Due to the hartal, TCB on Sunday doubled the supply of onions in truck sales from 500 kilograms to 1,000 kilograms in Dhaka, he said.
He said the open market operations would continue until the newly harvested onions hit the market.