A month of extortion?

Yesterday I went to the kitchen market and bought eggplant @ Tk 30-40/kg, cucumber for Tk 32, carrot Tk 40, etc. Add to the list the soaring prices of chicken, mutton, beef. The appreciation in price as compared to the week before Ramadan was between 25 to 50%. For some items it was even more. We are forced to pay more fare to the autorickshaw-wallahs, taxis, rickshawpullers.

The extortion and the accompanying mentality speak volume for the population of the delta who believe in quick money making. I wonder whether we are the descendants of the "Thagis" of the British period!

There seems to be two remedies of the malady - one is peoples' boycott of the Ramadan extravaganza and the other one is more pragmatic- stern control by the government and local bodies.