Home ›› 02 Sep 2022 ›› Front
The syndicate made up of rice traders at various levels of the market cannot be broken, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on Thursday.
The minister made the comment while talking to journalists after inaugurating the Food Friendly Program (FFP) and the sale of rice at Tk 30 per kg under the open market sale (OMS) for low-income people at the premises of Chapra Mosque in Azimpur, Dhaka.
“There is no shortage of rice in the country. Just looking at business establishments makes it evident that there is plenty of rice in stock. Strict action will be taken against anyone making an unlimited profit in rice,” the minister said, adding that strict monitoring is being conducted in this regard.
Talking about the FFP and OMS event, the minister said that three lakh tonnes of rice will be distributed every month under OMS and FFP. At present, the country has about two million tonnes of food grains in store. He said that more wheat and rice will be imported in the future.
The FFP or “Khaddo Bandhob Karmasuchi” and the OMS will continue alongside selling rice and flour among TCB cardholders at fair prices.
Under the FFP, over 50 lakh families across the country will get 30 kg of rice per month at a price of Tk 15 per kg. Rice will be sold openly in 50 trucks in Dhaka city and under the programme, 2 tonnes of rice per truck will be sold daily under OMS.
At each OMS centre, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) cardholders will get 5 kg of rice twice a month at a price of Tk 30 per kg while common people who do not have a TCB card will be given the same amount of rice against their NID card. Similarly, each 2 kg pack of atta will be sold for Tk 43.
On the very first day of the subsidised sale, the trucks and shops of the OMS and FFP were seen crowded with people.
Each truck has enough rice for distribution to 400 people, but this correspondent found that the number of people waiting in line was much greater.
Under the OMS programme, Rice and atta were being sold to a large crowd from 11:00am onwards on Thursday in the Chapra Mosque area of Azimpur. Meanwhile, around 150 people had already gathered behind the FFP truck at the Narayanganj District Commissioner’s office around 8:30 am the same day. Similar situations were seen in various areas of the capital including Jurain and Azimpur.
