The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has fined five wholesale traders Tk 42,000 for making excessive profits from selling hilsa fish. The fines were imposed following a raid on Kawran Bazar and Jatrabari fish markets in Dhaka on Wednesday.
DNCRP officials discovered that traders were pocketing excessive profits of Tk 600–Tk 700 per kilogram (Kg) of hilsa, selling it at wholesale prices ranging from Tk 1,450 to Tk 1,600 per kg.
At Karwan Bazar, the officials found that no proper cash memos were being maintained for hilsa trading at the fish market. The wholesale price of hilsa was Tk 1,450 per kg, yet it was sold at retail for Tk 2,200 per kg.
Due to such discrepancies, five traders were fined Tk 42,000. Additionally, officials also instructed them to provide proper receipts and cash memos for all future purchases and sales of hilsa.
In Jatrabari, over 200 fish traders were found to be purchasing hilsa from areas such as Monpura, Bhola, Mahipal, Feni, Chandpur and Patharghata, before selling them at the market.
In the wholesale market, the prices of hilsa varied, with 1.5 kg hilsa sold at Tk 1,800 per kg, one kg at Tk 1,600 per kg, 800-gram at Tk 1,450-Tk 1,470 per kg and 500-gram hilsa at Tk 900 per kg.
However, no traders in the market were providing receipts, nor were they displaying price lists. They were verbally warned and instructed to sell hilsa at reasonable prices and to display price lists prominently in the future.
