Price of rice

Photo: STAR

The recent remark of an advisor has added fuel to the already lit inferno razing across the country on rice prices. Instead of putting all out efforts to bring down the price of food grains, the adviser passed a remark which has aggravated the already bad situation with a further rise in the price which now stands at an all time record of Tk 35 per kg even for the coarsest variety. My suggestion would be to stop import of all luxury and non-essential items, including motor vehicles, and divert the funds towards import of rice immediately and flood the market with subsidised prices to save the country from the impending famine. Rapid action in this regard will help defuse the highly alarming situation and we demand immediate action from the government to save the teeming millions. If necessary the current foreign exchange reserve can be utilised for the import of rice. The country is on fire and water MUST be poured in to extinguish it from whatever source available immediately, before it is too late.
Moreover, strict vigilance should be there over the import, storage and distribution of rice by the importers to prevent hoarding and manipulation of prices. Enquiries should also be made to find out if the bureaucracy was responsible for deliberately creating the mess in the whole process of importing food grains with the ulterior motive of creating law and order problem in the country. Because food is an issue on which the poor countrymen would not make any compromise.