Voicing deep concern over the ‘skyrocketing’ onion price, BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday said the government is mocking with people instead of taking steps to cool down its overheated market.
“Onion price used to come down after Eid-ul-Azha in the past, but we’re now seeing a reverse trend. The price has been gradually increasing since the eid. It’s now being sold at Tk 140 per kg …it’s now more expensive than apple. It’s a mockery,” he said.
He came up with the remarks while speaking at a discussion arranged by Jatiyatabadi Projonmo 71 at the Jatiya Press Club.
Khosru, a BNP standing committee member, said the Prime Minister and her ministers are also making fun over the onion price hike asking people not to consume it as a solution to the problem. “If the prices of egg, oil and rice go up then the government may suggest not taking those as the easiest solution to it.”
He said the government is not at all serious about arresting the onion price hike as it is least concerned about people’s sufferings since it does not require their votes.
Khosru, also a former commerce minister, said the government has no accountability to people as it has become the ‘owner of the country’ by snatching people’s ownership. “So, it matters little to the government whether onion is sold at Tk 100 or Tk 140.”
Earlier at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the prices of essentials, especially that of onion, keep shooting up due to the government’s ‘wrong policy, corruption and foul play by a pro-ruling party syndicate’.
“The onion price continues to rise breaking all the previous records. The local variety of onion is selling at Tk 140-145 per kg in the market while Indian one at Tk 130-140,” he said.
The BNP leader said the onion price increased by 200 percent in one year and 61 percent in the outgoing month.
Stating that the skyrocketing price of onion has become a shock for the nation, he said the prices of onion and other commodities have unusually gone up due to ‘corruption and wrong policy’ of the government.
Rizvi also alleged that the ‘government backed-business syndicate’ has raised the onion price to make ‘quick buck’. “The onion price must be brought within the reach of the common people immediately.”
