Open market sale (OMS) of rice and flour (atta) began in the city and elsewhere across the country on Monday, but the government-initiated programme failed to attract enough consumers due to lack of publicity, said insiders.
On the other hand, many dealers stopped selling the subsidised food grain before the scheduled closing time (5:00pm), city dwellers said.
According to them, the quality of the rice and atta is comparatively better.
Dealers said the number of buyers might increase significantly from the next day (Tuesday) as more people will come to know about the programme.
The government launched the special OMS programme in the wake of spiralling rice prices in the domestic market.
Coarse rice was selling at Tk 46-Tk 52, medium quality at Tk 55-Tk 60 and finer rice at Tk 65-Tk 72 a kilogram in the capital for the last one and a half weeks, trading sources said.
According to the sate-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data, rice prices have increased by 2.0 to 5.0 per cent in the last two weeks. Year on year, the price has surged 32-40 per cent.
The Directorate General of Food (DGoF) started the OMS operation through its 811 dealers across the country, 120 of which are in the city. They are selling the items from trucks at various points.
Each truck is distributing one tonne of parboiled rice and one tonne of flour (atta). The rice sells at Tk 30 a kg and flour (atta) at Tk 17 a kg. A person can purchase 5.0 kg of each of the items.
Shahera Begum, a housemaid at Adabor in the city, came to buy rice from the OMS truck at Shyamoli Cinema Hall point on Monday.
The truck was placed at Shyamaoli-Kalyanpur main road instead of its scheduled place at Ring Road close to the cinema hall.
She said that many of her fellow neighbours returned empty-handed after finding no truck there in the morning (10:00am).
The truck came at 11:00am and was placed far away from its fixed space.
The number of customers, however, was much less than expected at around 12:00 noon.
Md Rafiqul Hasan, dealer of the truck, told the FE that they couldn't place the truck at Ring Road as the on-duty traffic police asked him not to park it there to avoid traffic congestions.
He said many people were yet to know about OMS sale and that is why the presence of customers was thin.
When contacted at 5:00pm on the day, Hasan said he sold 250 kg of rice and 200 kg of atta against the allocation of 1,000 kg of each of the item.
Baharul Alam, a vegetable vendor at Tajmahal Road in Mohammadpur, went to the OMS point at Sheker Tek Section-2 area at 2:30pm but did not find the truck.
Contacted, dealer of the truck Babul Hossain told the FE that he sold off all the rice before 2:00pm and he had only 400 kg of atta.
"But customers were not willing to buy only atta, so I quit for the day," he said.
Rezaul Karim, a vegetable vendor at Sheker Tek, said the truck had minimum ten sacks (500 kgs) of rice when it left the place.
However, people who bought rice from OMS truck told the FE that the quality of parboiled rice was much better than that of last OMS programme in September-October (2017) when the government distributed imported non-parboiled rice (aatop).
They also claimed that the dealers were telling them to bring poly bags on their own to carry the items.
Md Monir Hossain, joint secretary of Bangladesh OMS Dealers Association, told the FE that many people were yet to know about the OMS.
He said the last OMs programme in September was a total failure, as people showed little interest in buying imported aatop rice.
He said the rice varieties, which they are selling at Tk 30 a kg, are being sold at Tk 46-Tk 50 a kg in the mainstream market.
However, the Directorate General of Food (DGoF) distributed 1622 tonnes of rice and atta across the country on the day through the OMS dealers.
Dhaka OMS dealers started the sale at 120 points in the city on the day, said director (distribution, supply and marketing) of DGoF Parimal Chandra Sarker.
He said OMS places have been fixed by the directorate in consultation with the dealers.
"We will take measures to sell the items at suitable places. Dealership will be cancelled if anyone is found leaving their fixed places before selling off all their stocks," he said.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com