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At least Tk 500 crore worth of sales were suspended at the Chaktai-Khatunganj business hub of Chattogram in the last two days due to an ongoing strike that had followed a bloody clash between two groups of workers.
On Monday, one Maqsud sustained serious injuries during the clash between the loading-unloading workers and the transport workers. He died while undergoing treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital on Wednesday morning. After the clash, loading-unloading workers went on strike, suspending the sale and supply of goods at and through the country’s largest wholesale consumer goods market from Tuesday.
Apart from disrupting the supply chain in greater Chattogram, many perishable goods are also likely to go to waste because of the strike.
Generally, a large part of consumer goods imported through Chittagong Port is sold at Chaktai-Khatunganj among medium and small traders.
Alamgir Parvez, the owner of leading importer RM Enterprises, said no trade took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Generally, 150-200 truckloads of goods are supplied to different areas from Khatunganj every day but not over the past two days. He said Tk 250-300 crore worth of goods are bought and sold in this market on average every day, which means at least Tk 500 crore worth of sales did not happen in these two days.
Solaiman Badsha, former president of Chaktai-Khatunganj Aratdar Samiti, said middle-class traders from far away could not go to their destinations with their goods and faced losses due to this sudden strike.
Perishable goods at risk
The loading-unloading workers were supposed to return to work on Wednesday morning following an assurance from the authorities on Tuesday that steps will be taken against those responsible for the clash.
But after learning about Maqsud’s death, the agitated labourers stopped working and started protesting again.
Hamidullah Market is mainly known as the perishables market. The market’s Business Association President Mohammad Idris said that at least 40-50 trucks of onions, garlic, ginger and other perishables are sold here every day. But due to the strike and lack of transportation, these products have been left as they were in stores and warehouses.
Onions cannot be stored for over a day or two. It always gets supplied immediately to the retail markets, he said. A large portion of the onions that were not sold in the last two days is going to waste.
The ongoing financial crisis in the country has already decreased sales. If the product is damaged, the amount of loss will increase more, said trader Mintu Sawdargar. Many goods coming to Chattogram from various land ports have been sent to other markets. “We mainly sell products to floating small traders. They also could not do any business in the last two days because of this strike,” he added.
Desperate transport workers
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, deceased Maqsud’s son Mohammad Belal filed a murder case at Kotwali Police Station against three to four transport workers, confirmed Chattogram Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Nobel Chakma. The man’s death has severely impacted the traders of Chaktai-Khatunganj. His namaz-e-janaza was held near Hamidullah Market in the afternoon. Traders and locals who attended the janaza demanded immediate punishment of the transport workers responsible for the death.
“They [transport workers] have become more reckless now. I have not seen them behave like in my 42 years of life,” said Mintu. “If they are not controlled, the business environment here will be gone.”
Police and transport owners said there are around 100 pickup and mini trucks in Khatungonj and Chaktai areas that work to supply the goods.
These vehicles are often parked on the narrow but busy road of the wholesale market. That leads to terrible traffic jams on the street in this important commercial area most of the time every day.
Anil Chandra Pal, the president of the Inter-district Freight Transport, Truck and Covered Van Owners Association, said that directives were given on different occasions to have the vehicles move from this road. But transport workers do not follow the decisions.
