Consumers hardly found any dealers selling commodities at subsidised rates under a government programme in some areas in the city over the past week.
Consumers said in the absence of dealers in those areas they could not purchase essential commodities over the last week.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) started selling sugar, lentil, soybean oil, chickpea and date from May 6 last at subsidised rates.
The sale was launched to stabilise the commodity market during the holy month of Ramadan.
Consumers said they could hardly find any dealers of the TCB in their respective areas over the last nearly one week after the 10th Ramadan.
So, they could not purchase any sugar, lentil, soybean oil, chickpea and date.
They alleged that some dishonest dealers might have been selling the commodities supplied by the TCB to the retail markets.
They were not selling the items directly to the consumers.
They were doing it to make extra profits, the consumers said.
But the dealers selling the essential commodities in front of Jatiya Press Club and Bangladesh Secretariat were found punctual in doing their job.There are about 32 dealers of the TCB.
They are selling the goods by trucks everyday of the week except holidays in the capital.
"I could not purchase commodities like soybean oil, sugar and lentil from TCB dealers," said a consumer at the Daink Bangla Intersection on Thursday.
"I wanted to purchase essential commodities from TCB dealers," said Hossain Ali, a private sector employee, talking to the FE.
Housewife Rahima Begum at the AGB Colony Kitchen Market said, "I saw no dealer in our area."
A high official of the TCB admitted that some dealers were not selling the items punctually at different spots in the capital.
"If we find any dealers involved in doing this, then we will take legal action against him/ her," said TCB spokesperson Md Humayun Kabir.
The TCB reduced the prices of lentil, chickpea and date on May 18 last under its ongoing sale programme across the country.
It was done following good response from the consumers.
The TCB is now selling lentil at Tk 50 per kg against the previous price of Tk 55.
Chickpea is selling at Tk 65 instead of Tk 70 and date at Tk 100 instead of Tk 120 per kg.
A consumer can now purchase five kg of sugar, five kg of lentil, five litres of soybean, 10 kg of chickpea and two kg of date at a time.
Earlier a consumer was allowed to purchase four kg of sugar at Tk 55 per kg and four kg of lentil at Tk 55 per kg.
They also could purchase five litres of soybean at Tk 85 per litre, five kg of chickpea at Tk 70 per kg and one kg of date at Tk 120 per kg.
However, the prices of sugar and soybean oil remain unchanged at Tk 55 per kg and Tk 85 per litre respectively.
The TCB deployed a total of 185 mobile trucks and appointed designated dealers to sell the items.
The TCB official said 32 trucks were deployed in different areas of the capital.
Of the rest, 10 were deployed in Chattogram metropolitan city, five in other divisional cities and two in each of the district towns.
The TCB also decided to increase the allocation of essentials to be sold from each truck.
Apart from truck-sale, the TCB is also selling five commodities through its 10 retail outlets and 2,784 dealers in the country.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com