News Desk :
Shahnaz Begum lined up outside an open market sales point in Dhaka’s Malibagh on Saturday morning. She has been coming to the market for several days now, but hasn’t made it before they run out of stock.
Shahnaz lives with her husband and four other members of her family in a slum next to the Malibagh rail line. Her husband, a driver, is out of work during the lockdown, reports bdnews24.com
“We only eat rice,” she said. “We don’t have the money to buy anything else. But even that has become difficult to get. You can buy it here – perhaps once every four days. Other days you go home empty-handed.”
People from lower-income groups have formed long lines at open market sales, or OMS, centres during the lockdown, as the government tries to curb a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths across Bangladesh. But the stores, which sell necessities at subsidised prices, are running out of stock due to the surge in demand.
While speaking to this reporter, Shahnaz’s eyes restlessly scanned the line, wondering if she would be able to get anything today.
“There isn’t even a handful of rice at home,” she said, as she waited near the back of a long queue at 10 am on Saturday. “The rice here runs out around 1 pm. I don’t have the money to buy anything else. If I don’t get it, the children will have to go hungry.”
Shahnaz’s family, like that of many others, do not have a source of income during the lockdown. More are now turning to OMS stores to scrape by.
Those involved with the OMS programme say the lines at trucks and stores has more than doubled since the start of the lockdown.
OMS trucks and stores, operated by the Directorate General of Food, sell rice at Tk 30 per kg and flour at Tk 18 per kg. Each customer is allowed to buy up to 5 kg of rice and 5 kg of flour. Dhaka city has 94 OMS stores and 10 trucks distributing rice and flour. People have to spend hours in line to buy at a low price.
Men and women formed two long and separate lines at the OMS centre at Malibagh’s Biswa Road on Saturday, hoping for a chance to buy necessities.
Most of those in line say their family’s earners are out of work, which is why they are hoping to buy subsidised food.
Achhia Aktar, a widow who lives in the Taltala area, was standing next to Shahnaz in line. She has lived with her son and two daughters since the death of her husband a few years ago.
“I came here to buy rice and flour on Thursday, but I couldn’t get any,” she said. “I had to buy from the market. I’m here again today, but I can’t tell if I’ll be able to get anything.”
