.webp)
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Monday warned that no one will be spared if they stock paddy illegally from their capacity.
"Everyone has to refrain from buying paddy through competition," he said while addressing a meeting with the representatives of six corporate organisations at his office at secretariat in Dhaka, reports BSS.
The minister said the millers are claiming that the corporate organisations are buying paddy with competition and stocking illegally. The mass media are also blaming the corporate organisations for illegal hoarding, "but we want to know the real fact", he said.
Sadhan said the corporate organizations sell products adding value and for this they are buying paddy with high price. It has a huge impact in the market and the others are also forced to buy paddy with high price.
The minister said rice is available in the market under different brand names, on which the MRP is written. "We want the price of the mills to be written as well. Retailers cannot raise prices suddenly or unreasonably if mill gate prices are written on sacks," he added.
Food Secretary Ismail Hossain was also present in the meeting, which was attended by the representatives of City Group, Square, Pran RFL, Meghna Group, ACI and Akij Essentials.
Ismail Hossain said that regular monitoring is being carried out to see if anyone is buying paddy or rice for illegal stockpiling. “If someone tries to store beyond the capacity, we will review the storage capacity if necessary.”
DG of Directorate General of Food Md Shakhawat Hossain, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority chairman Abdul Kaium, and FPMU DG Md Shahidul Alam were present, among others, in the meeting.
