Shahnaz Begum lined up outside the TCB market in Dhaka’s Malibagh on Saturday morning. She has been coming to the market for several days now, but hasn’t made it before they run out of stock.
Shahnaz lives with her husband and four other members of her family in a slum next to the Malibagh rail line. Her husband, a driver, is out of work during the lockdown.
“We only eat rice,” she said. “We don’t have the money to buy anything else. But even that has become difficult to get. You can buy it here – perhaps once every four days. Other days you go home empty-handed.”
People from lower-income groups have formed long lines at open market sales, or OMS, centres during the lockdown, as the government tries to curb a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths across Bangladesh. But the stores, which sell necessities at subsidised prices, are running out of stock due to the surge in demand, reports bdnews24.com.
While speaking to this reporter, Shahnaz’s eyes restlessly scanned the line, wondering if she would be able to get anything today.
“There isn’t even a handful of rice at home,” she said, as she waited near the back of a long queue at 10 am on Saturday. “The rice here runs out around 1 pm. I don’t have the money to buy anything else. If I don’t get it, the children will have to go hungry.”
Shahnaz’s family, like that of many others, do not have a source of income during the lockdown. More are now turning to OMS stores to scrape by.
Those involved with the OMS programme say the lines at trucks and stores has more than doubled since the start of the lockdown.
OMS trucks and stores, operated by the Directorate General of Food, sell rice at Tk 30 per kg and flour at Tk 18 per kg. Each customer is allowed to buy up to 5 kg of rice and 5 kg of flour.
Dhaka city has 94 OMS stores and 10 trucks distributing rice and flour. People have to spend hours in line to buy at a low price.
Men and women formed two long and separate lines at the OMS centre at Malibagh’s Biswa Road on Saturday, hoping for a chance to buy necessities.
Most of those in line say their family’s earners are out of work, which is why they are hoping to buy subsidised food.
Achhia Aktar, a widow who lives in the Taltala area, was standing next to Shahnaz in line. She has lived with her son and two daughters since the death of her husband a few years ago.
“I came here to buy rice and flour on Thursday, but I couldn’t get any,” she said. “I had to buy from the market. I’m here again today, but I can’t tell if I’ll be able to get anything.”
Achhia, who works as house help, lost her job two weeks ago because of the pandemic.
Day labourer Md Hasan is also waiting in line to buy rice.
“There is absolutely no work now. I’m using the meagre savings I have to try and buy rice here. I don’t know if there will be anything left by the time I get to the front of the line.”
“This is my second day standing here. After a long wait in line yesterday, they told us they were closing around 1 pm and told us to come again tomorrow. So here I am.”
OMS dealers say the amount allocated to the centres and trucks has not increased despite the lockdown. The supply constraint, combined with the increasing number of customers, has led to shortages.
Abdul Motalleb, who works as a dealer at the OMS Malibagh centre, said the lines for rice and flour have been long for the past few days.
It wasn’t like this before the lockdown, he said. The centre’s stock used to last until the evening, but now they run out in the afternoon.
“The government allocated 1,000 kg of rice and 1,000 kg of flour to the centre a day,” he said. “We continue to sell as long as that allocation lasts.”
OMS authorities say they are aware of the situation and that the allocations for stores and trucks will be increased soon.
“People from low-income groups are cut off from their means of earning, which could be the reason for the increased demand for OMS rice and flour,” said Mohammad Aminul Ahsan, chief controller of Dhaka Rationing under the Directorate General of Food. “Our rules say sales will continue until 5 pm. Before the lockdown, our stock would last until then. Now we seem to run out around 1 pm.”
“We are still only selling according to our previous instructions. But, as there are more customers and more demand, the situation is being monitored. We plan to increase the allocation at these stores in the coming days.”
The 10 trucks in the Dhaka area have sold about 2,600 kg of rice and 4,000 kg of flour, he said.