Profiting out of human misery

The Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) has now launched an operation to control the soaring price of green coconut. But why is this popular and ubiquitous daab, in Bangla, has joined the essential commodities in their race to climb the Everest of price? It is after all not imported so that Ukraine-Russia war might have played a part in driving up the price. Neither is depreciation of taka against US dollar the culprit. Then, is there a syndicate behind this irrational price hike of beloved daab, a source of nourishing drink rich in vitamins and minerals?

It is perhaps for the first time in the country's history that the quasi-judicial government body, DNCRP, has decided to intervene to check the price hike of green coconut which has no reason to be in short supply. Wholesalers usually collect green coconuts from the southern coastal districts. In the capital, Dhaka, for instance, green coconuts from the districts of greater Khulna are found in abundance. It could be gathered from retail traders in green coconut that wholesaler of the item buy it for Tk. 30 to Tk.40 a piece from the owners of coconut grooves in the outlying districts. After reaching the capital its price normally doubles. Traders say, it is the cost of transporting the fruit to Dhaka that raises its price by a hundred per cent. Retailers at the street corner would then sell a piece of the green coconut at prices between Tk.50 and Tk.70.

Now that the country has been experiencing a dengue outbreak of epidemic proportions, the demand for green coconut, understandably, has increased markedly. That is because, the potassium-rich green coconut water is practically indispensable for medical conditions where the patient suffers from loss of fluid. Dengue and diarrhoea, among similar other diseases, create such a condition in a patient.

Small traders selling green coconut before hospitals may take advantage of the fruit's high demand and charge a taka or two in excess of the actual price of the item from the customers. That is reasonable. But what is happening at the moment is unacceptable. At the retail level, the sellers are charging exorbitantly from Tk 150 to as high as Tk. 300 for each of the precious fruit! And as it is a kind of remedy for the patients of dengue, their relatives, who can afford, are compelled to buy it whatever the price, considering it an emergency.

With the raging dengue showing no sign of relenting, the green coconut traders seem to have a field day. The price of the item may go further up, so goes the speculation. And it is not only green coconut whose price has been increasing without rhyme or reason. According to some reports, saline bags too have been facing supply shortage and some dengue patients' attendants had to pay Tk. 200 for a 1000 ml bag of saline, though its actual price is only Tk.88.  In a similar fashion, the prices of egg and chicken have also shot up.

Interestingly, all these items are necessary for dengue patients, since doctors advise protein-rich diets for them. So, the egg, chicken, saline and green coconut traders have flocked together to fleece the dengue patients and their families. True, businesses are run to make profit. But taking advantage of human misery to make profit is outright crime. They are criminals in traders' garb and so deserve the kind of treatment any felon does in the court of justice.

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