A mobile court in Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur has fined a food trader Tk 10,000 for illegally buying and hoarding VGF rice allocated to fishermen left without work during the main hilsa breeding season. Two hundred and fifty kilograms of rice were seized in the same operation.
The fine was imposed on Wednesday afternoon, 7 October, during a drive at Balijuri bazar in Madarganj municipality by Upazila Nirbahi Officer and executive magistrate Sumon Chowdhury.
The upazila administration said 180 fishermen of Charpakerdah union had each received 25 kilograms of VGF rice as support during the 22-day government ban on fishing.
According to the complaint, several local traders collected that rice from some of the fishermen in front of the union parishad office itself and sold it on to Shahidul Islam, a food trader at Balijuri bazar.
Catching, transporting and selling hilsa is prohibited for 22 days each year during the breeding season. The VGF rice exists to hold up food security in fishing households through that period, so rice that changes hands and reaches the open market weakens the ability of those households to observe the ban.
Reported by Barta24.com.
Source: Barta24
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