Crowd of buyers in Moulvibazar 'Bina Bir Bazar'

The anti-discrimination student movement has started a non-profit market activity in Moulvibazar. Entrepreneurs said that this marketing activity will continue until the price of daily commodities comes to a bearable level.

On Tuesday (October 29) from morning till evening, shoppers could be seen thronging the city's Choumuhna Point to buy daily commodities. The buyers said that the price of each product is 20 to 30 taka less than the general market.

Mifta Mia, a rickshaw puller, said that due to the flood, the prices of daily commodities in the market are abnormally high. The price of vegetables has increased by Tk 20 to Tk 40 per kg in the local market. But here I bought many vegetables at low prices.

Anti-discrimination student movement Moulvibazar student representative Zakaria Emon said that consumers should not be deprived of fair prices, so this initiative has been taken in the interests of consumers. This has reduced the price gap of products from the wholesale market to the consumer. We are selling total 15 products. Various agricultural products including potatoes, brinjal, cucumber, gourd, green chillies, vegetables are being sold at cheap prices.

Here coriander leaves are being sold at Tk 100 per kg, eggplant at Tk 60 per kg, radish at Tk 40 per kg. Besides, the gourds are available at 30 taka each. Pumpkin is being sold at Tk 30 per kg, potal at Tk 40, shrimp at Tk 40, green chilli at Tk 130 and cucumber at Tk 30.

Some buyers said, this is a big initiative for the lower class. However, if fish, meat, milk were sold along with agricultural products, the poor people would have benefited more.

Setera Begum, a housewife of Gizapara area, said that no vegetable is available in the market below 50 rupees. A few years ago, the bag was filled for 300 taka, but now it is not even a thousand taka. The prices of all products have increased several times. There is no possibility of price reduction. We demand that the price be brought within the affordability of the people by regular market supervision.

Abdul Alim who came to the vegetable market said, I live in the city. My father grows vegetables in the village. After so much labor and trouble, the price at which the father sells the vegetables, comes to the market and sometimes more than doubles the price. It is a complete failure of supervision. And this failure is making life difficult for low income people like us. Due to this exceptional initiative, some people are able to buy vegetables at a lower price of around 20 rupees per kg.

Samael Rahman, district student representative of anti-discrimination student movement Moulvibazar, said that they have started this activity with 15 types of daily necessary vegetables. Around 500 buyers have got an opportunity to buy raw materials at a fair price since morning.

Javed Rahman, Tanzia Shishir, Ashraf, Zakaria Emon and others of the anti-discrimination student movement were present at the time.

Omar Farooq Naeem/KSR