Businessmen and traders blamed recent newspaper reports that ghee and other products sold in the area were mostly adulterated, for their sufferings.

"The rumor is frustrating for most honest traders here who try to make a clean living," said Ramendro Ghosh, a businessman.

A mobile court visited Ghee Potti last month and the team led by a magistrate had inspected different shops and confiscated products that were being kept in an unclean environment. According to the magistrate, some of the products being sold were not BSTI (Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute) approved.

"We did not protest and rather co-operated with the drive," said a trader.

"The mobile court also did not find any illegal factories where dubious stuff were being produced," claimed Moazzem Hossain Khan, a ghee trader. But later, some national dailies reported that some of the traders at Ghee Potti were fined for making ghee with potato and animal fat.

"We do not produce or refine products which arrive from greater Faridpur district and other parts of the country everyday," added Khan.

"Honest people, who have inherited the skill from their forefathers, produce the ghee we sell," said Ghosh who was extremely concerned about the future of thousands of ghee producers following the newspaper reports.

"The journalists in question never bothered to test our products before writing their reports. If they had only examined, then could have been certain about the originality of the ghee and other stuff," said Ghosh.

"We sell our ghee at Tk 320 per kilogram whereas the price of factory-made ghee is much less. Despite the higher price, the traders here have managed to do business as city dwellers have shown total trust in the quality of the products sold at Ghee Potti," added Ghosh.

"These unsubstantiated reports have ruined our image," said a trader who owns one of the 20 shops that does business in the area.

"Our major customers were the professional cooks and community centers. They bought our products to cook for thousands of people at wedding ceremonies, birthdays and other occasions. But we have even lost some of our regular customers after the publication of the reports.

"But we are still trying to survive this rough period. We have not compromised with the price or the quality of our products because of the low demand and sale," said Khan.

The price of mawa is Tk 180 per kg and cream-less yogurt is sold at Tk 20 per kg at these shops.

Ghee Potti has been in operation since the British rule, according to elders of the area. "I had inherited this trade from my grandfather and father. The case is the same with some of the other traders here also," said Ghosh. "But due to current crisis, some traders are even pondering shifting to some other business."