Broiler chicken prices have broken records, rising in steps over several weeks to Tk 240–250. In this situation the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection has launched drives to control chicken prices.

Over the past two days the agency ran drives at various markets in the capital. As part of this, on Monday (6 March) Md Abdul Jabbar Mondal, head of the directorate's Dhaka district office and assistant director, and assistant director Tahmina Begum carried out a drive at Kaptan Bazar, Dhaka's biggest chicken market.

Tahmina Begum said no chicken shop at Kaptan Bazar had a price list on display. Traders were raising prices as they pleased, especially when supply was low and demand high, and were paying no heed to government instructions.

A week earlier, directorate officials had come to the market and instructed market committee leaders on putting up price lists and other matters. A week later, little had changed.

Traders offered various arguments for not displaying price lists: chicken prices rise and fall within half an hour or an hour, prices vary with the size of the bird, and when buyers are few they sell at a loss. So it is not possible to keep prices posted at every moment.

Rejecting these arguments, directorate officials said anyone doing business must follow the law, and price lists must be visible in shops to protect consumers' rights; there is no alternative. Two chicken shops were fined Tk 10,000 each, Tk 20,000 in all, for having no price list.

Abdul Jabbar Mondal said drives were being run simultaneously in chicken markets nationwide on the directorate director general's orders, and the Kaptan Bazar drive was part of this. No shop in the market was following the rule on price lists. "Last week the traders here were clearly told to display price lists and collect purchase and sale receipts. Sadly, even now no one is displaying a price list. For this offence two establishments have been fined Tk 20,000," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.