Food Minister Advocate Quamrul Islam has warned that tough actions will be taken, if any rice miller tries to manipulate the price of rice in the market.
"If anybody tries to volatile the rice market, tough legal actions will be taken against them," said the minister.
The food minister came up with the warning while addressing the annual general meeting (AGM) of Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mill Owners Association at Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) here
Expressing satisfaction, the food minister said now the price of rice is stable and we hope that it will remain stable in the days to come," he added.
Blasting over the attitude of rice millers during the last flood, the food minster said most of the rice millers in the last year did not sell rice to the government, so procurement in the last year was not satisfactory.
At the event, rice mill owners requested the minister to withdraw the name of millers from the blacklist.
In reply, the minister said, "We don't want to frustrate anybody and the government has decided to remove the name of the rice millers from the blacklist."
He, however, informed the meeting that the public warehouses would be brought under online system soon so that all the public warehouses can come under close watch of the food ministry.
Calling all the rice millers to renovate their existing husking mills into auto-rice milling system, the minister said "All the existing husking rice mills should be renovated into auto rice mills for quick and hassle free delivery of finished rice."
With Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mill Owners Association President Md Abdur Rashid in the chair, the meeting was also attended, among others, by Director General of the Department of Food Badrul Hasan, Additional Secretary Md Omar Faruque, Director General of the Department of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit Badrul Arefin and Husking Mill Owners Association members.