The four-day-long hartal enforced by Bangladesh Jamaat-e
Islami since last Monday morning has created resentment and
frustration among the mango growers, consumers, traders and
transporters in the region.
According to sources concerned, mango supply from the two districts
famous for high quality tasty varieties of the popular summer fruit is
badly hampered during the peak harvest season due to the countrywide
hartal.
Orchard owners and traders are counting huge losses as prices of the
perishable item has drastically fallen due to lack of buyers amid the
transport problem.
Traders and transporters have become fed up over how to run the mango
business during the current peak season especially Rajshahi and
Chapainawabganj-the two districts famous for mango production and
marketing.
“Many people work hard and eagerly wait for long nine to 10 months to
harvest the cash crops and this is the prime time to gain profits from
it,” said Abu Bakker Ali, President of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
In this context, he mentioned that any type of hartal is detrimental
to the economic activities not only the mango business.
Terming the hartal as completely political issue Bakker Ali said the
political party should absolutely go for an alternative to hartal for
saving the nation from massive financial loss.
At present, mango trading and transporting has peak with appearance of
varieties of mango especially Fazly and Ashwina everywhere in the
region with bumper yield.
Now all the markets in Rajshahi city and Chapainawabgonj are flooded
with the varieties of mango and the wholesale buyers as well as the
retailers have been pouring into the wholesale mango markets and
bargaining to settle the price.
But the hartal is said to create a breach in the enthusiastic mango
market and transportation, the local sources said.
Currently, around 30 tons of mangoes are being supplied andtransported from the two districts to different parts of the country
including the capital everyday.
In addition to the passenger-coach, train, truck and other private
vehicles used for the mango transportation, courier services are also
being used for the purpose everyday.
“We alone transport around 2,000 baskets laden with mangoes from here
to different parts of the country specially Dhaka everyday,” said
Monzurul Kabir, assistant general manager (Parcel) of Sundarban
Courier Service.
Rahmat Ali, a mango-trader at Shaheb Bazar in the metropolis, said the
buying and selling has badly been affected throughout the region due
to the prolonged hartal as it debars pouring people from across the
country to buy quality juicy mangoes produced in the area.
Centering the marketing and transportation of mango, important cash
crops in the northwestern Bangladesh, especially in the two districts,
a large number of people are involved in various types of works for
their livelihood, said Saidul Islam, a whole-sale mango trader at RDA
Market.
While terming the hartal unexpected, he said that it affects the
working class deliberately. The political parties should work in
favour of the people’s interest instead of doing harm to them, he
added.
– BSS, Rajshahi
