The government's latest drive to sell some essentials during the month of Ramadan including meat, milk and egg at a subsidised rate is admittedly a welcome one. To be run by the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) under the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, the DLS's delivery vans have started selling these items at 10 points in the city. Understandably, this is a move in line with a similar one made in early March to provide low-income people within the capital city and elsewhere with some basic items for Iftar and Sehri at subsidised prices during the Ramadan.
Since the mobile sale points, as reported, operate within the capital city only, the present drive is quite limited. Notably, the pre-Ramadan move was meant to cover some 10 million families in the low- and middle-income bracket across the country. The long lines of people waiting for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)'s delivery trucks only point to the desperation of those people badly battered by the skyrocketing price of the essential commodities. At the same time, it also showed how insufficient the arrangement vis-à-vis the people's actual need was. For, on most occasions, the delivery trucks were emptied before they could meet the requirements of all the people waiting in the line.
The situation has hardly changed during the Ramadan. That apart, looking at the rate chart of the items for mobile sale, it appears, the line of the people at the DLS's designated sale centres will again be rather long. For it has been given to learn that the members of the public can purchase, for example, beef at a rate that is nearly 17 to 24 per cent lower than its current market price. Similarly, they can buy mutton at a price 16 to 20 per cent less than the market rate. Also, milk is cheaper by 15 to 20 per cent and egg by 12 to 17 per cent. At this point, considering the amount of supplies reported to be available for sale in each delivery van, it can meet the requirements of 200 to 250 people at a time. Is it enough to avoid the kind of situation that arose at the TCB's delivery points?
Hopefully, those in charge of mobile sale of Ramadan essentials will take enough precautions to ensure that no person in the line is deprived of her or his due. Side by side with carrying out the sales operation for Ramadan essentials, it is important to see that unwanted elements do not infiltrate the lines of people at the delivery points. During the earlier drives, there were reports that some dishonest people were selling the subsidised TCB items in the black market. As such, strong monitoring will be required to be mounted this time to avoid such happenings. Against this backdrop, the government might well think of extending the Livestock Department's Ramadan sales service among a wider section of the population within the city as well as in other parts of the country. At the same time, it is believed, the operators of the mobile sale will have adequate supply of Ramadan essentials to meet the public's growing demand.