OMS halt worries Ctg residents

The open market sale (OMS) service of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) had brought much relief to the low- and lower-middle income groups in Chattogram district recently, as prices of daily essentials shot up in retail markets.

But with the service ending on Wednesday, residents are now worried about how they will manage their meals.

TCB started the OMS service in the port city on January 3. It continued till January 27, operating across 30 spots in the district -- 17 in the city and 13 in upazilas.

Daily essentials including lentil, sugar and edible oil were sold from the popular "TCB trucks", at Tk 30 to Tk 60 cheaper per kg/ litre compared to retail market price.

On Wednesday, rickshaw-van puller Abdul Halim was seen standing near the queue for a TCB truck at Dewan Bazar. He said he bought lentil, sugar and soybean oil from there.

"A kg of lentil is sold at Tk 110 in the market, while a kg of sugar is Tk 80. Here I get both the items at Tk 60 and Tk 55 per kg respectively," he said. "A kg of soybean oil is sold at Tk 160 per litre in the market, but here I get the same for Tk 110."

"The hike in price of daily essentials has made our lives difficult. I have heard that the service will be closed from tomorrow [Thursday]. How will we survive then? I request the government to continue OMS for the sake of people like us," he said.

Schoolteacher Tapati Barman was found standing in the queue. "I stand in the queue once a week as the salespersons do not sell more than two-kg lentil, two-kg sugar and two-litre oil per person at a time," said Tapati. "I run out of sugar and lentil in a week as I have six family members."

"We live on fixed income," she said, adding, "If the OMS operation is shutdown, we will be in big trouble," she added.

Ratan Barua, a tailor, echoed her. He said he bought five kilogrammes of onion at Tk 30 per kg, at least Tk 15 per kg cheaper that the market price.

He too urged the authorities to resume the operation.

Contacted, Jamal Uddin Ahmed, TCB regional head at Chattogram, said though they have stopped the service, they will resume it soon considering the suffering of people.