200 tonnes of TCB onions rot on 'delay' in release at Chattogram Port

The organisation will incur no financial loss for these onions, says the port city office chief of the organisation

About 200 tonnes of onions brought for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, TCB, have been wasted due to a 'delay' in their release at Chattogram port.

Residents of the area complained that the stench of these rotten onions dumped on the bank of the pond at the TCB office adjacent to Chattogram EPZ is spreading in the locality, said Ziaul Haque Shumon, councillor of South Halishahar ward.

“We hope that the TCB will promptly remove these rotten onions.”

The TCB's Chattogram regional office chief Jamal Uddin Ahmed said they had an agreement with a Turkish company to import 5,000 tonnes of onions. Of these, 2,800 tonnes of onions have been released from the port so far.

“About 200 tonnes of onions have rotten from these released onions. The TCB has distributed the rest of the onions to dealers for sale.”

The suppliers delayed releasing the onions as they were late to provide shipping documents, Jamal said.

"According to the agreement with them (suppliers), they will get the amount of money in correspondence to the quantity of good onions we receive in the warehouse," he said, claiming that the TCB will not suffer financial loss for the rotten onions.

“The importer's representative was present after the release of the onions. They picked up the rotten onions and threw them away, we just gave them space.”

The rotten onions will be buried in the ground, Jamal said.