Let price charts not turn into traffic lights

That prices of essentials are hiked without any reason and proportion every Ramadan need not be mentioned again. The question is: how should authorities respond to alleviate this hardship that plagues people, especially those from lower and middle and income families, every year around this time. This year, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) through a view-exchange meeting with traders of different kitchen market has decided that price charts of essential commodities would be put up at markets from the first days of Ramadan.

A laudable initiative, surely. That these traders during Ramadan hike prices arbitrarily, without any justifiable reason is well-established. But, how much faith can be put in the traders' assurances now that they will follow the charts? Similar initiatives, over the years, to control the price of essentials do not give much hope. The DNCC has said it will monitor the markets to ensure compliance. This too is not new. Reports by newspapers over the years about such initiatives have shown that these charts are mostly disregarded by the traders and the authorities have been able to do little to enforce through monitoring.

Putting the general people through further hardship in the holy month of Ramadan is contrary to its spirit. But sadly we cannot rely on traders to refrain from hiking prices with this simple understanding. Therefore, we can only hope that the price charts will for once be beneficial. We urge that the DNCC stands by its words and monitoring efforts are not one-off shows of compliance. Only through strong monitoring and exemplary punishment of errant traders can this initiative be of help to the citizens. Otherwise, the price charts will be as effective as our our traffic lights: in place and out of use.