The Crime Desk: Old Dhaka’s Badamtali and Wiseghat fruit stalls are famous for local and foreign fruits. Badamtali is the country’s largest wholesale fruit market, built along the banks of the Buriganga River in the capital. These six fruits are imported from 46 countries of the world—apple, orange, malta, grape, pear, and pomegranate—through the importers here.
One of the countries from which it is imported is India, China, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, France, the USA, Bhutan, Egypt, and South Africa. Apart from apples, oranges, grapes, pears, malta, cherries, pineapples, plums, and mangoes, some unfamiliar fruits like baby mandarin, palm, nectarine, kiwi, sweet milan, and avocado are also imported. The artisans here provide almost all the fruit needs of the people of the whole country, including the capital.
About 70 percent of the fruit demand is imported through the Chittagong port. The remaining 30 percent is imported from India by land, which is brought through Satkhira, Chapainawabganj, Burimari, and Hili land ports and sold by auction at Badamtali in Old Dhaka. This 88-year-old fruit is sold in the market for about 30 crore rupees every day. Products are bought and delivered from here all over the country. So this market is always bustling with buyers and sellers. But the picture of last week is different. Fruit sales have fallen.
It has been raining continuously for several days in most parts of the country, including the capital. As a result, rain fell in different parts of the capital on Friday. The sun peeked out in the morning. But after a while, the sky is covered with black clouds. The rain came roaring down. After 2 pm, going to Badamtali in the capital, it is seen pouring rain; fruit traders are sitting and sleeping. Some traders are throwing rotten fruits beside the Buriganga. Some of the devotees are reaping that fruit.
While talking to a fruit seller named Imran Ahmed Apu, he said that a while ago I threw 10 carat oranges in water. The market value of which is more than 60 thousand rupees. Not only me, there are 2200 fruit traders association members and wholesalers like me here. Retail buyers from different parts of the country and city are not coming due to rain. Fruits are raw and perishable—rotting in everyone’s backyard as they are not sold on time.
Md. A retailer named Sohail told the media that the fruit business has been going bad for the last month. Not only because of the rain, but also because of the politics of the big importers, there is an unstable situation in the market. Communicating with retailers in the city over the phone to sell the fruits, for which buyers do not come to the market much. Moreover, sales are low now due to the fact that importers stockpile products at different times and increase the prices.
Sirajul Islam, former president of Metropolitan Fruit Importer and Exporter Multipurpose Cooperative Society, said that the current business situation is very bad. Every day, hundreds of trucks and trawlers come to Badamtali with all kinds of fruits, including apples, oranges, pineapples, bananas, bell peppers, and watermelons. But the long-distance trucks don’t want to come anymore. They are often robbed on the highway. The fruit is getting wet and rotting during handling. Due to continuous rain and waterlogging, buyers do not come as before. All in all, sales have fallen. Many traders have faced losses.
