A mobile court of the Chittagong district administration has started drives to control onion prices due to their rampant increase within just a few hours across the country.
Two shops–Meher Ali Traders and Mohammad Ali Ahmad Traders–were fined Tk20,000 for selling onions at an increased rate and for irregularities such as not keeping receipts.
Under the supervision of Executive Magistrate and Chittagong District Administration's Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Omar Faruk, a market monitoring team and a mobile court conducted the drive in the Khatunganj area from 3pm to 6pm on Sunday.
Faruk said this drive would continue to curb onion prices.
"Monitoring will continue in addition to fines on various shops. Furthermore, efforts are underway to guarantee that consumer goods prices do not rise on the pretext of low availability," he said.
According to some traders, they need to sell onions at higher prices due to increased demand. Retail traders claim that they are compelled to buy from the wholesale market at a higher price.
Receipts collected from wholesale shops indicate that Soumik Traders, Abul Bashar and Sons, M/s Mohammad Farid Uddin, and M/s Jannatul Mawa are selling at wholesale prices ranging from Tk175 to Tk198 per kg.
It was reported that traders are selling onions at high prices in Khatunganj, Chaktai, and Pahartali markets.
