Businesspersons in Sylhet have expressed concern over the preparations to arrange a trade fair in the city without any local authorities including administration and chamber of commerce knowing it. Talking to New Age, the business leaders said they would launch a movement against the unauthorised step to hold the trade fair if the authorities concerned failed to stop the move.
Local sources said a little known organisaiton, Bangladesh Benarasi Moslin and Jamdani Society, has been doing preparatory work at Shahi Eidgah Playground in the city for the last two weeks to arrange there the divisional trade fair.
Local traders have said the organising authorities have already invited applications through distributing leaflets for setting up stalls in the fair.
‘The leaflet has mentioned that finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, also local lawmaker, would inaugurate the trade fair on December 6 as chief gust,’ Faruk Ahmed, a businessman of the city’s Zindabazar, said.
But, the finance minister in a public meeting on Saturday in Sylhet expressed his strong dissatisfaction seeing his name as chief guest of the inaugural ceremony of trade fair said to be launched on December 6.
The finance minister at that time also asked the administration concerned to look into the matter and ordered for not to allow holding any fair before the upcoming parliamentary election in the country.
Sylhet deputy commissioner Shahidul Haque also admitted that they were not aware of any trade fair in the city, though the leaflets circulated by the fair organisers, read that the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, district administration and police would provide all kinds of assistances to the programme.
Generally, the SCCI is the organisation which arranges the trade fair in the city every year. But the SCCI authorities were not informed over the issue in this time, sources in the SCCI said.
The fair management executive, Mayeen Al Bablu, was not available for his comment in this regard, despite repeated attempt to reach him over phone on Monday.
Being contacted, Sylhet Metropolitan Police additional commissioner, SM Rokan Uddin, told New Age on Monday that nobody was given permission for holding trade fair in the city.
‘If anybody advertises that SMP would provide them security for arranging the fair, step to be taken against them,’ the SMP official said.
Turan Miah, general sectary of Sylhet Zilla Bebsayee Oikya kalyam Parishad, a businessmen’s forum, told New Age that they already had submitted memorandums to different authorities concerned requesting steps to stop preparation for the fair bypassing the SCCI.
The forum pres do not take immediate steps in this regard.
-With New Age input
