Dealers reject TCB products in Rangpur for higher prices
The Rangpur divisional dealers of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) stopped taking release of their allocated products from Sunday, as the corporation hiked the prices of lentil and dates.
The Rangpur regional office of TCB has 396 authorised dealers in the eight districts of the division. Of them, 96 dealers belong to the Rangpur City Corporation.
One of the dealers said the state-owned trading body hiked the prices of per kg of Nepalese lentils by Tk 35 and dates by Tk 10. It raised the prices without any prior notice, he said, adding that the quality of the commodities is very poor compared with the products available in the market.
The dealer said they sold lentil at Tk 70 a kg and dates at Tk 70 a kg of their last allocation. Another dealer, on condition of anonymity, said consumers in Rangpur do not like to buy the TCB goods, as they are very low in quality.
According to the Rangpur TCB, 297 dealers of the Rangpur division are taking release of their allocated products, although according to the dealers that is untrue.
All these paused the selling of TCB products at fair prices in Rangpur since Sunday.
The dealers also alleged that in the previous allocation they received edible oils in containers of 203 litres where TCB is distributing oil containers of 200 litres now.
They also said the trading body did not increase the commission for the dealers, which is 3 percent now, although it hiked commodity prices several times.
SM Yasir, general secretary of TCB Rangpur Division Dealers' Association, said they will not take release of the commodities if TCB does not reduce the prices of lentil and dates and supply better quality products.
“We just followed government rules,” said Suzaudaula Sarkar, assistant executive officer of the Rangpur office of TCB. He also said they will discuss the issue with the concerned authority to solve the stalemate soon.
Yasir said they will boycott TCB products if the corporation does not correct the prices in time.
The dealers also set with the TCB authority with their demands. But the meeting ended without any decision.
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