The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh has resumed a campaign to sell essential goods at a discounted price to 10 million low-income families at the onset of the new year, bdnews24.om reports.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, accompanied by Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh and TCB Chairman Brig Gen Md Ariful Hasan, inaugurated the drive at a TCB dealer shop in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Tuesday.
A family is allowed to buy 1kg of sugar at Tk 60, 2kg of lentil at Tk 70 per kg and 2 litres of soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre once a month under this initiative.
“The world is trying to tackle various crises and recessions triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. But Bangladesh is in a comparatively better state to tackle the situation than other countries in the region,” Munshi said.
He said the commerce ministry had previously planned to sell essential goods at subsidised prices to 5 million families, but the programme was expanded on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s orders.
A family can save Tk 280 by collecting essential goods, such as cooking oil, sugar and lentil, from TCB dealers.
However, many families have lamented the 'insufficient' quantity of goods they get under the programme compared to their needs. A member of a family of seven says they would need to buy double the amount of cooking oil and lentil than what they currently can in order to meet their monthly needs.
Meanwhile, a group of people protested against the delay to inaugurate the progranme, having waited in line from 9 am only for the drive to begin at 12:15 pm. They suffered as the daytime temperature has risen in the capital after a week of cloudy weather.
The commerce minister also placated a group of protesters by distributing water bottles among them.