For more than a month, high onion price has caused all sorts of problems for the people. Government officials, instead of doing their jobs, have been making all sorts of excuses, taking failed initiatives and joking that people should just make do without onions. 

Now they say price will finally go down. But meanwhile, rice price is now rising. In some places, the price of a sack of rice has gone up by hundreds of takas.

Right after the huge debacle with the onion price, the fact that rice prices are now soaring out of control shows how badly the government has failed to ensure price stability in the market that is so essential for all citizens, the ordinary people in particular.

Without taking the blame away from unscrupulous traders, one cannot help but blame the government for its lack of market monitoring. How are fixed income families supposed to cope with the rise of one commodity after another? Do government officials even bother to ask themselves that question?

It is time for government officials to stop making insensitive comments about the suffering of consumers and actively do their jobs.

Abul Hamid, Badda