Jumbangla Desk: Due to the abnormal increase in the prices of almost all daily commodities including vegetables, fish, meat, the lower and middle class people are having to go to the market. In this situation, despite the interim government taking various initiatives, everyone blames extortion. Most of them are of the opinion that the transportation of goods by road has to be paid a huge amount.
Also, vegetables change hands many times from the producing farmer to the urban consumer. And every time it changes hands, the price goes up. This time, a new initiative has been taken to overcome this situation. Vegetables will be transported by train.
It is known that the railway will transport agricultural products from 15 regions of the country. Vegetables, fruits, fish and eggs will be supplied to different areas including Dhaka-Chittagong through three special trains. If everything goes well, vegetables, fish, eggs and fruits will be transported by train from next Tuesday.
It is also known that a special parcel train will run one day a week from Khulna, Rajshahi and Panchagarh. On the one hand, the violence of middlemen and hawkers will decrease, on the other hand, the price will also decrease. At the same time, the residents of the capital will get fresh vegetables.
The vegetable traders say that even if half of the product is taken in a truck, the same rent has to be paid even if the truckload of products is taken. But if you take the train, you will have to pay the fare as a commodity, which will reduce the cost. Besides, there is no fear of traffic jam if you go by train, time will be saved. Goods can also be transported at low cost. So it can be safely said that if the train starts, farmers and businessmen will benefit as well as the government.
Major part of the demand of vegetables in the country is met from Jessore region. In this context, I spoke with Sushant Kumar Tarafdar, Deputy Director of Jessore Agricultural Extension Department. He said that at least two coaches should be kept for farmers from Jessore station. This will reduce their transportation costs. Which will affect the capital's vegetable market .
Bangladesh Railway Director General Sardar Shahadat Ali told the media that the railway fare is relatively low. Apart from this, it is possible to reach the destination easily and keeping the quality of the product. For that purpose we have decided Khulna, Rajshahi, Panchagarh routes for now. The train will run one day a week with goods.
He also said that if the demand increases, additional luggage vans will be added to the trains. The fare has been fixed at 1 taka 80 paisa to 2 taka per kg. Trains will be timed so that they reach Tejgaon by 12:30 or 1:00.
Incidentally, earlier such an initiative was taken in 2021 but finally it did not see the light of day. However, although not profitable, special trains run to transport mangoes and cows.
