The government's marketing agency, The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), has started to suffer due to the closure of the 'Truck Sale' program of selling daily commodities at subsidized prices. They would get some relief as they get the opportunity to get daily commodities at a lower price than the market. Moreover, people who are not TCB card holders also used to buy rice, oil, pulses from these trucks at affordable prices in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolis. Zaman Mia, a rickshaw driver in South Dhaka's Mirpur No. 10 Roundabout area, said, "Nowadays, the prices of everything including rice and pulses are high in the market. Products could be bought from TCB trucks at a low price, now it is difficult as the sale of the trucks has stopped.”
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)
In this regard, TCB spokesperson Humayun Kabir said, "TCB's truck sale is conducted only as per the requirement of the Ministry of Commerce and this program does not run throughout the year." He said the plan was to run the truck sale till November, but later it was extended till December.
Even though truck sales are still closed, products are being delivered regularly to TCB smart card holders. Currently, 5.7 lakh cardholders are availing this facility after verification out of 1 crore previous cardholders. Various everyday products are being sold at subsidized prices to smart card holders in the month of January. It may be noted that during the previous Awami League government, cards were given to one crore families for the distribution of TCB products, but there are allegations of widespread irregularities in its distribution.
0 Comments