Some 23 eminent citizens of the country have expressed grave concern over the hike of edible oil price.
They said the survival of people in the country will be more difficult as the price of edible oil, including soybean and palm oil, has soared again.
In a press release on Tuesday, the eminent citizens demanded regulation of the prices of food items and the edible oil in the market. The commerce ministry on Sunday decided to increase the price of soybean by Tk 8 per litre. So, people will have to spend Tk 168 for purchasing each litre of bottled soybean oil.
The release reads, "Majority of country’s people have been facing severe financial crisis for the last two years due to coronavirus pandemic. Many people have lost their jobs. In this situation, the prices of essential commodities, including the food items, are increasing steadily. The survival of people will be more difficult due to this price hike.”
The eminent citizens said they have been observing a vicious circle in the market system of the country for a long. Through hoarding the goods, the vicious circle, also known as syndicate, creates artificial crisis in the market to increase the price of food items.
Along with the price of essential commodities and water, they have urged the government not to increase the price of gas.
Pankaj Bhattacharya, Sultana Kamal, Rasheda K Chowdhury, Ramendu Majumdar, Dr Sarwar Ali, professor MM Akash, Robaet Ferdous are among signatories, according to the press release.
