Subsidised rice sales from today

Nationwide sale of rice at affordable prices will begin today. Through Food Ministry’s Food Friendly Programme (FFP) and Open Market Sales (OMS), 2.6 lakh tonnes of rice will be distributed daily at subsidised prices.

Common people can stand in line and buy rice from designated shops and trucks of OMS. At the same time, out of 1 crore family cards distributed by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), 50 lakh cardholders can also buy rice separately. The nationwide programme is expected to reduce the price of rice in the country.

According to Food Ministry sources, each customer can buy 5 kg of rice at a time. Rice will be distributed at the rate of Tk 30 per kg under OMS and Tk 15 per kg for family card holders under FFP.

A cardholder can buy a total of 10 kg of rice in a month. Besides, under OMS, each buyer can buy 3 kg of flour. A total of 201.5 tonnes of flour will be sold daily through designated dealers.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Mojumder will officially inaugurate the distribution programme at Azimpur Chapra Mosque area of ​​the capital today at 11:00 am.

Earlier, rice was sold through OMS but it was never at such a large scale. Besides, the distribution of rice through family cards will start for the first time.

In view of the unusual increase in the prices of rice and flour in the market, this activity has been undertaken with the aim of market control and ensuring food security of the common people, said Food Ministry Secretary Md Ismail Hossain.

Talking to the OMS dealers in the capital, it was known that the demand for OMS and FFP products has increased. Especially the demand for flour has increased more. Previously, only poor people used to stand in line for rice and flour. Now middle-class people are also getting in line.

Md Shahidul, owner of an OMS dealer named Alif General Store in Jurain, said, “We are given 1 tonne of rice and 500 kg of flour for one day. There was a time when it would take all day to sell such an amount. But now it takes only three hours. Last Wednesday, the sale started at 10:00am and ended at 1:00pm. Currently, the demand for flour is high. It costs Tk 55 per kg to buy flour in the market, but the buyer can buy Tk 18 per kg from the truck, saving Tk 37 per kg.”

Food Ministry said that the allocation per dealer will be increased from today. Earlier 1 tonne was given for truck sale but now 2 tonnes will be given. Permanent stores will get 3.5 tonnes each.

Rice will be sold through 2,363 centres and flour through 403 centres under the nationwide OMS programme. Apart from this, rice will be distributed nationwide for the next 5 months through 10,110 dealers under FFP. A total of 50,10,509 cardholders will get rice.