The commerce ministry will have to take the primary responsibility to support the customers conned by some rogue e-commerce firms, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said today.

The commerce ministry has the most responsibility as e-commerce firms secured clearances from it, he told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase.

At the same time, other agencies involved have the collective obligation, he said.

According to Kamal, the general public were deceived by this group of firms in various forms on numerous occasions. "The government will have to accept the responsibility to this effect."  

Meanwhile, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved a proposal to purchase more than 11 crore syringes from JMI Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd to administer coronavirus vaccines.  

The meeting gave the nod to buy the syringes and an adequate amount of auto-disable syringes in the future in order to inoculate 13.82 crore people, the finance ministry said in a press release.