Dhaka North’s market monitoring drive. But does it really matter?

A team of 25-30 people, including a ward councillor, several officials from Dhaka North City Corporation, journalists, police, Ansar members and several videographers visited Banani kitchen market in Dhaka around 11:30am on Monday.

The city officials, led by Dhaka North City Corporation Executive Magistrate Zulkar Nayan, were there for a market monitoring drive. The team also included Syed Hasan Noor Islam, the convener of DNCC's market monitoring committee and councillor of Ward 32.

Upon entering the market, the officials were enraged by the price of Sonali chicken with a tag of Tk330 per kg at a shop.

"Why is a Tk320 chicken being sold at Tk330? Fix the price to Tk320. If you charge more, we will fine you," Nayan told the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper then put the price at Tk320 per kg.

The magistrate said that action would be taken against anyone selling goods at a higher price than the government's lists. He also added that those traders would not be allowed to do business anymore.

Notably, on 15 March, the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) fixed the maximum retail price of Sonali chicken at Tk262 per kg.

Meanwhile, the councillor told shopkeepers that he would check the prices of the shops every hour.

The executive magistrate also threatened a shopkeep to not sell cock chicken disguised as country chicken.

The city officials then went further inside the market to monitor the prices of lentils, lemons, and sugar.

Nayan went to an egg shop next and inquired about the prices.

Pointing to country chicken eggs he asked, "Are these country or Sonali chicken eggs?"

The seller replied they were country chicken eggs and asked if the magistrate wanted some.

Nayan declined and walked away.

At the next shop, the price of broiler chicken was listed at Tk220. It seemed that the price had just been changed from Tk230 to Tk220.

Nayan agreed that the price was correct and went on with the inspection.

However, DAM fixed the retail price of broiler chicken at Tk175.30. The reason behind the executive magistrate's agreement of Tk220 being the correct price was unclear to the correspondent.

Meanwhile, Nayan then turned his attention to the next shop, where he asked for the prices of soybean oil, lentils, and gram flour.

He picked up a large lemon and said, "Will people eat if you sell a lemon for Tk15? Where is the poor man's lemon? If you don't sell that, how will people eat?"

He then instructed the shopkeep to sell lemons at Tk10 per piece.

By this point of the drive, several more TV journalists with cameras had joined, as well as some curious shopkeepers. It had become difficult to walk due to the large crowd.

The magistrate visited two more vegetable shops and declared Tk80 per kg for brinjal a fair price.

He then visited a beef shop where the price was listed at Tk750 per kg. The magistrate okayed the price. However, the government-fixed price of beef is Tk664.39 per kg.

Zulkar Nayan then went to brief the media about the drive which lasted about 15 minutes.

"We have checked the prices of agricultural products in the market, especially those on the government's price list. We have not seen much difference there. If we see through monitoring that they are charging extra or that there is no price list, then we fine them and take action against them."

In response to a question about the price list, Nayan replied, "We receive the price list from DAM every day, which we use for monitoring."

The magistrate was then informed by the journalists that the prices of beef and chicken should be lower according to the government's list.

Responding to a question about the fairness of prices, Nayan said, "The government fixes the prices after a lot of research. But it takes time to update the prices. The market monitoring committee, the executive magistrate, and everyone is working together to keep the prices reasonable."

After the briefing, Nayan left and another Executive Magistrate Mahbubul Hasan continued the drive along with Councillor Noor Islam.

Mahbub found raw, cut, and whole chicken meat, as well as milk, all stored in the same refrigerator at the Bhai Bhai Chicken House. The shopkeeper did not have a license to sell frozen products. The shop owner, Mohammad Jobayer, was fined Tk30,000.

The city officials then came out of the market to give a media briefing.

They were asked why they had not taken any action against the higher prices of 29 products whose prices had been fixed by DAM on 15 March. 

The councillor said that the market prices were fair according to the list they had. He then checked the price list he had in his hand and saw that it was from 14 March.

He then said that they had not been sent the list after the prices were fixed and the city corporation had yet to make any decision regarding the new prices. Which is why they were following the previous list.

The executive magistrate told journalists, "We know about the new price fixing. But maybe there has been some delay in it reaching us. But once we get it, we will take action accordingly."

He then said, "The drive is not over yet. You are the ones who called us for the briefing"

After a few minutes of exchanging words with the media, the city officials went back to continue their drive. The traders, however, were not visibly upset about the decision.

During this phase of the drive, the magistrate asked Mohammad Ali, the market committee's joint general secretary, about fire safety.

After giving him some advice on taking quick action on that matter, the magistrate saw on his way out that some shopkeepers had kept their goods outside their shops on the street. Three shopkeepers were fined Tk5,000 each for this offence.

However, the magistrate did not ask any questions as he walked past the beef, chicken, vegetable, and grocery shops. The journalists followed the magistrate as he continued the drive.

The magistrate at the end fined Bhai Bhai Sabji Store Tk5,000 for selling potatoes at Tk40 per kg.

The price of potatoes, according to DAM's Friday list should not be more than Tk29 per kg.

The city officials then gave a media briefing again and left.