Syed Shemul Parvez :
The government has decided to provide food aid to one crore families of the country at the subsidized price of TCB over the special (family) card system ahead of the holy Ramadan on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The government thinks, about 50 million low-income people will be directly benefited by the program.
The program will be officially inaugurated today across the country sans the capital by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh-(TCB), a government market regulatory body under the Ministry of Commerce. TCB has already finalized the preparations. One crore families who will receive this assistance have already been selected.
According to Commerce Ministry sources, the list of one crore households across the country has been finalized under the ‘Family Card’ program. Union Parishad, Upazila Administration and District Administration have worked together in this regard.
In order to select the beneficiary families, various issues have been taken into consideration beyond the list of low-income people under the social sphere of government.
According to TCB sources, there are many floating people in Dhaka. They are not going to be brought under this family card. However, the TCB said that 61,050,000 low-income families, including those who received TK 2,500 as cash incentive from the Prime Minister during the corona pandemic outside Dhaka, are also getting the card.
Regarding the government’s initiative through TCB, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the program will be expanded at the union level to deliver goods to 10 million low-income families across the country through TCB.
TCB will give low cost daily necessities to the people across the country. The purchase of sugar, gram, lentil pulses and soybean oil has also been finalized under the TCB program.
According to Commerce Ministry sources, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will hold a press conference on March 20 to mark the sale of TCB products among one crore low-income families through family cards.
In order to implement this program of the government, the work of purchasing necessary products has already been completed. The government’s Cabinet Committee on Procurement recently approved the purchase of these products.
According to TCB, cardholders will get packets of five products at an affordable price. Each packet will contain 2 liters of edible oil, 2 kg of sugar, 2 kg of gram (boots), 2 kg of lentils and 5 kg of onion. The price of soybean oil is TK 110 per liter, sugar TK 55 per kg, lentils TK 75 and onion TK 30. The price of gram has not been fixed yet. It is learned that a cardholder will get the food two times before and during Ramadan. They will receive the first installment of the product from March 20. The second installment will be delivered in the middle of Ramadan.
The program will require 20 million liters of soybean oil, 40,000 metric tons of sugar, 40,000 metric tons of lentils, 40,000 metric tons of gram and 25,000 metric tons of onions.
In this context, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, this is a milestone and groundbreaking decision of the government. five crore people of the country will get benefit through this program.
