More and more people now flocking to OMS trucks

Leaving his chicken shop to his salesman, Abul Kashem rushed to gate-1 of New Market around 11:00am yesterday to buy essentials from a mobile shop of the government's Open Market Sale programme.

But he found some 20 people waiting in a queue behind the truck to buy the goods at subsidised prices.

"The soaring prices have forced me to come here. My small business is not doing too well either," said 55-year-old Kashem, whose shop is at a nearby kitchen market.

He said his daily sales was around Tk 20,000 just about a year ago, but it has almost halved now.

"Things have become very difficult for me. Buying commodities for my five-member family at subsidised rates gives me some relief. But I don't know how long I will have to wait in line," said Kashem.

It took him almost an hour to buy 5kg rice for Tk 150. But some people had to return home empty-handed as the shop soon ran out of goods.

The Open Market Sale programme is aimed at cushioning the blow of rising food prices for the low-income people. The food ministry runs 964 OMS shops across the country, including 110 in the capital where rice and flour are sold, while the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has 30 in the capital selling onions, potatoes, lentils and soybean oil.

The TCB sells essentials at fair prices to one crore low-income families that have the "family cards", officials said.

According to BBS data, food inflation stood at 12.56 percent in October this year, the highest in at least a decade. Non-food inflation advanced 48 basis points to 8.3 percent last month.

TCB data shows the price of fine rice increased by 2.24 percent in the last one year, coarse lentils increased by 2.38 percent, potatoes 85.11 percent, local onions 193.33 percent, imported Indian onions 153.33 percent and broiler chicken by 6.78 percent.

The prices of sugar rose by 28.26 percent, salt 9.33 percent and brown eggs by 2.56 percent during the same period.

People buying potatoes, soybean oil, and pulse after enduring a long wait in the queues. Photo: Prabir Das

BUYING ESSENTIALS A TALL TASK

Visiting 11 OMS and TCB shops in the capital yesterday, The Daily Star found a large number of people, including women and the elderly, waiting in long queues.

Monwara Begum, a 70-year-old resident of Hazi Rahim Box Lane in Lalbagh, left her home for the OMS truck near Agrani School and College in Azimpur around 6:30am. She went there on foot and by the time she reached there, a lot of people had already queued up.

Monwara lives with her daughter and son-in-law. Her daughter, a garment worker, earns Tk 7,000 a month. Her husband, a shopkeeper at Chawk Bazar earns about Tk 8,000. Monwara has to go out to buy commodities while they are at work.

Abdul Quader, a sales staff at an OMS truck near Agrani School and College, said the number of buyers has been increasing over the last one month.

He said 10 people would return home empty-handed on average a month ago, but the figure has doubled now.

Shefali Begum, a 50-year-old widow, came to an OMS outlet near Abdul Goni Road around 8:00am. But she had to wait for more than an hour to buy 5kg rice and 5kg flour for Tk 270 -- around Tk 205 cheaper than the retail market price.

"I came early as I couldn't buy commodities yesterday [Monday]. I can't afford to buy the essentials from the retail market," said Shefali who earns around Tk 5,000 a month by collecting plastic and selling those to scrap shops.

Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said more people crowding OMS outlets indicates that people's purchase capacity has decreased.

He said there are some people who buy OMS products and sell those to fund their purchase of other products, meaning their condition is even worse.

"People resort to such unethical means when they become extremely vulnerable," he said.

Rahman called upon the government to take steps to increase the income of the people.