Warehouses fined for selling onion at inflated prices
A mobile court yesterday fined four warehouse owners at the Khatunganj wholesale hub for selling onion at exorbitant prices.
The court led by Executive Magistrate Tawhidul Islam of Chattogram district administration raided several warehouses at Hamidullah Miah Market at Khatunganj and fined four a total of Tk 1.30 lakh.
It slapped a fine of Tk 50,000 on M/s Khatunganj Trading, Tk 40,000 on M/s Osiuddin Traders, Tk 20,000 on M/s Soumik Traders and Tk 20,000 on M/s Bengal Traders.
During the two-hour drive the team found that the warehouses were selling onion imported from Myanmar at prices between Tk 100 and Tk 110 per kilogramme to different wholesalers from the city and adjoining districts though the import cost of the onion was Tk 42 per kg, said the magistrate.
The team found stock of 70 tonnes of Myanmar’s onion, Islam said, adding that the price chart displayed at the warehouse showed price of the neighbouring country’s onion at Tk 65.
“But when we checked the sale documents from a truck loaded with the onion just in front of the warehouse we found the onion was sold to the client from Sylhet at Tk 110 per kg.”
The wholesale owners gave the excuse that they were hostage of a syndicate of Teknaf-based onion importers who fixed the rate. The magistrate said they asked the wholesale owners to provide list of the syndicate members by today.
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