OMS of rice starts, draws a few buyers

A salesman sits at an empty open market sale (OMS) shop as the government-subsidised sales programme resumed yesterday. The sale of rice at a lower than market price has, however, failed to attract many customers this time around.Photo: STAR

The government yesterday started Open Market Sale (OMS) of rice in six divisional cities and labour intensive areas of Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Gazipur districts to make the stuff available to low-income groups by selling it at Tk 18 per kg.
The OMS programme also begins in Savar today, sources said.
Meanwhile, the price of coarse rice came down by Tk 1 to Tk 2 per kg on the first day of the programme. The coarse rice was sold at Tk 19 to Tk 21 per kg yesterday while dealers bought rice from government stocks at Tk 16.50 per kg.
“At least 858 dealers procured rice from the government warehouses yesterday. The number of dealers will increase gradually,” Pius Costa, director general of directorate of food, told The Daily Star.
A dealer can sell highest 1000 kgs of rice in a day while one can buy highest five kgs of rice.
A few people came to the OMS shops to buy rice on the first day, dealer sources said.
“I could sell only 200 kgs of rice till 1:00 pm yesterday,” said Mohammad Faruq, a dealer in the city's East Rajabazar area.
Our Chittagong correspondent adds: A very few people were seen to buy rice from OMS shops for which eight inspectors have been assigned to supervise the programme.
The last OMS program was operated in the country from August to September last year.