The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) yesterday announced that it was preparing to start selling essential food commodities at subsidised rates among one crore families through smart cards from January next year.

"We have already written to the commerce ministry," said Md Humayun Kabir, joint director and spokesperson of the TCB, during a press briefing at the state agency's regional office in Tejgaon, Dhaka.

The agency organised the event to outline its plans for distributing the food during the month of Ramadan, which is set to being at the end of February next year.

The TCB currently sells 20,000 tonnes of lentils, two crore litres of edible oil, and 10,000 tonnes of sugar per month among low-income families at subsidies rates. It also sells rice in conjunction with the food directorate.

The state agency additionally sells chickpeas and dates during Ramadan and has already reached agreements with suppliers for this purpose.

The one crore beneficiary families are selected by district and upazila administrations, city corporation councillors, and local government representatives and then provided smart cards.

So far, 57 lakh smart cards have been prepared and provided to the respective beneficiary families.

The smart cards came into use following media reports that the piece of document that the state used to previously provide to the beneficiaries as proof of their enlistment for the purchases was being increasingly forged.

The TCB has requested updated beneficiary lists from local administrations but is yet to receive those due to recent administrative changes following the ouster of the Awami League government through a student uprising in August.

"We expect the issues to be resolved soon," Kabir added.