Unscrupulous traders responsible for price hike of essentials: CAB

The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) has blamed a section of unscrupulous traders for increasing the prices of daily essential commodities and accused them of indulging in an unholy competition of price gouging ahead of Ramadan.

“There are no products left in the market with prices being not hiked. Though the government has taken some measures to keep the prices under control, their benefits are yet to be seen,” SM Nazer Hossain, vice president of the CAB, said on Wednesday.

While addressing a human chain formed in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka protesting the price spiral of daily essentials, the CAB leader informed that now some government agencies are also attempting to increase the prices of daily essentials alongside private organisations.

People’s income has declined drastically, and the number of people running behind the OMS truck has increased alarmingly, he said, calling upon the authorities concerned to set up fair-price shops in different parts of the capital.

While addressing the human chain, CAB General Secretary Humayan Kabir Bhuiyan, urged the government to ensure exemplary punishment of those responsible for increasing the prices of daily essentials.

The CAB, a non-government and non-profit voluntary organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting consumers’ rights and interests in the country, held the human chain at district level headquarters across the country to press home its demand.