TCB sales yet to begin in many areas

Although two-thirds of the month has passed, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is yet to start the sale of goods at subsidised prices in many districts and upazilas.

Not distributing family cards to genuine consumers, lack of coordination between the District Commissioner (DC) office and TCB, lack of cooperation from ward council offices or union parishad, etc. problems and complications are holding up the sale of TCB products in some places in the country.

Even in areas where the sale is ongoing, the speed of products being sold has slowed due to cardholders not showing up. Products are being left in the dealers' warehouses as a result.

Moreover, reducing commission by Tk 1 per kg and increasing the tax rate on operating expenses has pushed up the overall operating expenses for the dealers. Dealers have to submit 48 per cent more tax in this case.

On the other hand, due to the fuel price hike, they have to spend more on transport as well. Overall, the expenses have gone up even further for the dealers after goods have remained unsold.

Cards undistributed, good left unsold

This correspondent has found that the number of cardholders in Dhaka North 8- Ward is more than eight thousand. However, the dealers had only stocked up on enough goods for three thousand cardholders. Even then, most of those products have gone unsold in the last 20 days.

Officials from TCB’s Dhaka regional office and dealers complained that council staff didn’t distribute about five thousand cards and offered the dealers to supply the goods to them instead.

The dealers have declined, and as a result, goods have remained unsold. If the cards went to the consumers as per rule, this situation would not arise, the officials and dealers claim.

When asked, TCB regional office official and TCB spokesperson Humayun Kabir told The Business Post that this situation is indeed the reality and they have investigated the matter.

“I have implored the councillor to distribute the cards,” he said. Mentioning that the dealers that are supplying goods there are from a different area, he said that’s creating a problem.

Humayun Kabir also said that this situation is prevalent in other wards in the capital as well. Last month, dealers in 7-8 wards were left with unsold goods.

“This is happening because of the lack of co-operation from the council office,” he claimed.

Operation yet to commence

Meanwhile, the sale of products has not started in many districts including Narayanganj and Narsingdi till Wednesday.

When asked, Narayanganj’s Dapa warehouse official Mahfuzur Rahman said that the sale of products could not commence due to the lack of synchronisation from the DC office.

“DC office wants to distribute the goods themselves, but they were not able to take proper precautions. So, they were unable to collect the goods,” he said.

There have also been complications regarding the issuance of bank deposits and goods sale invoice receipts and delivery orders (DO). It could not be decided whether the DC office or TCB office would issue these documents.

However, it was decided in a meeting on Tuesday that the DC office would maintain this issue, and would also deal with the product handover. After receiving goods from TCB, they would be kept separately in the TCB warehouse.

“Our costs are already high because we have to sell goods after collecting them from Narayanganj. On top of that, TCB is paying less for operating expenses, taxes have increased, and transport fares have also increased,” An anonymous dealer in Narsingdi told The Business Post.

“Mandatory bribe has to be paid in various places. Many dealers have lost interest in selling products and are only doing this to maintain their trade licence,” he added.