The authorities have fined a trader for hoarding around 18,000 litres of edible oils, including bottled and loose soybean and mustard oil, in a warehouse in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna.
Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection Assistant Director Jahirul Islam on Tuesday led a raid there, slapping Shyamal Dutta Paul, the proprietor of Shyamal Store, with a fine of Tk20,000.
Shyamal bought these edible oils before Eid and was storing them in his warehouse.
The DNCRP assistant director directed the store owner to sell the hoarded edible oils at pre-Eid prices.
Meanwhile, local buyers expressed outrage over the sum of the fine and said Shyamal should have been handed a more severe punishment.
One of them, Swapan Hossain, said the authorities should have confiscated the hoarded goods and sealed off the warehouse.
There are many others like Shyamal Paul, he said, urging the government to bring them to book.
Our Pabna correspondent Emroz Khondker provided inputs for this report
