Sylhet housewives declare 10 days without onion in protest

Sylhet Office : Housewives here on Wednesday formed human chain protesting unabated price rise of onion.

The housewives formed the human chain in front of the Central Shaheed Minar here in the afternoon.

At this time, the housewives informed that they are worried about the price hike of onion.

“At this critical time, the housewives needed to be aware. Palatable dishes can also be cooked without onions,” they said, adding that the syndicate will go broke if everyone simultaneously boycotts onion for some days.

The housewives announced not to eat onion for 10 days to stop the hoarders. Besides, they called for effective measures of the government to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, in Bogura, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)  has started selling onion at fair price under police security, in the face of people thronging to buy onions. Standing in queue many consumers became happy after getting one KG onion at Tk 45 as fixed by the government.

Amidst onion crisis, TCB began selling onions at fair price of Tk 45 per KG through dealers in open market for the first day in Bogura on Wednesday noon. The onions have been imported from Egypt.

Bogura Deputy Commissioner Fayez Ahmed inaugurated the onion sale on the road in front of the Circuit House in the afternoon.

Hearing the news of the sale of onion, hundreds of people thronged there and queued up to purchase onions.

At this time, police was deployed there to maintain security. It has been alleged that the police members behaved rudely with the consumers to avert indiscipline. The women, however, purchased onions forming separate queues.

Each kilogram of foreign onion is on sale at Tk 170-180 in Bogura markets and local dry variety at Tk 220-230, while onion with raw leaves are on sale at Tk 80-90 per KG. On the other hand, onion without leaves are being sold at Tk 160-170 per KG.

Fancy Khatun, woman buyer and a resident of Badurtola of the town, said that “I am happy to purchase onion at fair price because I was facing hurdles to cooking food due to abnormal price rise of onion.”

Abdur Rashid, owner of Galeb Traders and a TCB dealer, said that two metric tons or 2,000 KGs of onion were sold to 2,000 people. The onions will be sold on regular basis from Monday next.

In Chapainawabganj, TCB also started selling onions at Tk 45 per kilogram. A consumer can buy maximum one KG onion, as stipulated by the government. Deputy Commissioner AZM Nurul Haque formally inaugurated the TCB’s onion sale programme in open market at his office premises.

Standing in queue the consumers thronged the DC office area to purchase the onions. Besides onion, each KGs of Sugar and pulses were being sold at Tk 50 per KG while Soybean at Tk 85 per KG.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, each KG of onion was being sold at Tk 220 per KG in the local markets of the district.

Deputy Commissioner AZM Nurul Haque also informed that initiative has been taken under the auspices of the district administration for open sale of onions to control its price.

“A thousand KGs of onion have been sold and the sale programme will continue depending on the supply,” the DC said.