Bangladesh:16 mill owners fined, 3 warehouses sealed for stockpiling rice in Naogaon
By Abdur Rouf Pavel
Three warehouses were sealed and 16 mill owners, including the District Rice Mill Owners’ Group president, were fined Tk5,70,000 for illegally stockpiling rice and paddy in Naogaon.
The executive magistrates handed down the punishment after conducting daylong anti-hoarding drives in different areas of Mohadebpur, Manda and Patnitala upazilas on Saturday.
Later, at around 9:30pm, the deputy commissioner’s media cell revealed this information.
According to the media cell, the upazila administration along with the district administration conducted daylong anti-hoarding drives in the upazilas to find illegal stock of paddy and rice.
In Anandnagar Mahalla, District Rice Mill Owners’ Group President and RM Rice Mill owner Rafiqul Islam Rafiq was fined Tk1,00,000 and three godowns were sealed for keeping paddy and rice more than the limit during the drive.
The owner of Tasiron Automatic Rice Mill was fined Tk1,00,000, MM Auto Rice Mill owner Tk50,000, Mofiz Uddin Automatic Rice Mill owner Tk50,000, M/S Jayeda Traders Tk1,00,00 and Sufia Automatic Rice Mill owner Tk50,000.
In Mohadebpur upazila, the owner of Nahar Arman Automatic Rice Mill was fined Tk30,000, Shapla Automatic Rice Mill Tk20,000 and Dada Automatic Rice Mill Tk10,000.
Zahid Automatic Rice Mill owner and Mecca Madina Automatic Rice Mill owner were also fined.
In Manda upazila, a trader named Faizul Islam was fined Tk20,000 and another trader named Sumon Kumar Tk50,000 for storing illegal paddy.
In Patnitala upazila, three more paddy traders were fined Tk35,000 for hoarding paddy without a license.
Naogaon Deputy Commissioner Golam Mowla said: “A team comprising assistant commissioner (land), agriculture extension officer, upazila food controller and a sub-inspector (SI) has been formed to ensure the sale of illegally stored paddy and rice in the open market. They will oversee the matter.”
“The anti-hoarding drive will continue to keep the paddy and rice market stable,” he added.
This article has been republished from The Dhaka Tribune