Profiteers, hoarders should be boycotted: CAB

Unscrupulous traders engaged in profiteering and hoarding should be “socially boycotted” as law alone cannot always curb such business practices, Prof Dr M Shamsul Alam, senior vice president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), has said.

Alam made the remark on Monday while speaking at a webinar on the ineffectiveness of law against consumers’ rights violations.

To make an example, the CAB vice president suggested that the authorities should identify at least one fraud business case from each district and sue the trader under the Consumer Protection Act. “This will help bring business accountability and good governance.”

He further said that Bangladesh is rife with unscrupulous traders and it is getting hard to control them — even the government is failing to handle the situation.

Under the present structure of the commerce ministry, it is not possible to ensure the rights of consumers, Alam said by suggesting that the authorities should come out of the culture of market raids and imposing fines.

Dishonest business activities should be treated as criminal offences, he implied.

Also speaking at the webinar, Abdul Hannan, editor of Vokta Kantha, said during Eid and the national budget, many traders observe “celebrations of raising prices”.

This “celebration” is already underway with the ensuing national budget, he said.

SM Nazar Hossain, vice-president of the CAB, said that although unscrupulous traders were fined in various ways, they could not be controlled.

Traders are increasing the prices of all kinds of commodities including daily essentials on various pretexts.