Rains take toll on Khatunganj trade

Traders in Khatunganj and Chaktai, two major wholesale hubs for commodities, suffered losses as their stocks of goods were damaged by tidal surge and downpour in the last two days.

Because of the tidal surge as high as two feet, huge areas in Khatunganj, Chaktai and adjoining Korbaniganj and Rajakhali located on both sides of the Chaktai canal remained inundated for four hours till Monday afternoon.

This damaged huge quantity of perishable commodities such as onion, garlic, rice, lentil, sugar, tea and spices as water entered almost 2,000 shops and godowns at the wholesale markets in the areas.

High tide returned again early yesterday and in the afternoon, shutting down the business activities of the hubs.

Syed Sagir Ahmad, general secretary of Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association, said traders were yet to calculate their losses as they were still busy to protect their goods.

He assumed the loss would not be less than Tk 50 crore as water entered some 50 percent shops and godowns at Khatunganj and Chaktai.

Over 7,000 big and small shops and godowns are located in Khatunganj and Chaktai.

Tapan Das, manager of wholesale trading firm Bagdadi Corporation, said the height of the water during the tidal surge was beyond their imagination so they could not take any precautionary measures like shifting some of their goods to high areas.

He said at least 400 sacks of garlic and onion stored in their shop and three godowns were completely damaged, inflicting a loss of Tk 5 lakh.

“One fourth of the stock was damaged,” he added.

Mohammad Faruq, director of Era Traders, said 200 sacks of garlic and ginger were damaged.

At least 200 sacks of onion, garlic and ginger were damaged at Jamshed Sowdagar, another wholesaler.

The onrush of water for several times in the last couple of years prompted traders to raise the height of the doorsill of both shops and godowns up to 2 feet to 3 feet to prevent water from coming in.

Still, some of them failed to resist the high tidal as water seeped in through the walls of shops and godowns.

Ahmad said as many parts of the Chaktai canal have filled up as a result of land-grabbing and lack of regular dredging water-logging brings misery to the traders.