To buy products at low prices the number of people gathering at Trading Corporation of Bangladesh’s (TCB’s) trucks continues to increase every day. But they alleged that in addition to raising the prices of TCB products, many items are often not available.
However, TCB officials said that the price has been fixed by adjusting with the market price, which is 30 percent to 40 percent less than the kitchen markets.
So far, only lower-income people have been seen in TCB’s line, however, in the midst of all-out lockdown many middle-class people have also been seen there.
Remon, a private job holder, who stands at the TCB truck queue at Rampura, told this correspondent, “We are people of limited earnings, due to the lockdown our salary is not also regularly paid. As the lockdown imposed, commodities price went up, in this situation, many of us are purchasing from TCB selling spots.”
However, he also alleged that “TCB trucks often arrive lately and sometimes after standing in the long queue for hours, some products are unavailable to buy."
From a TCB truck, a buyer can buy a maximum of 4 kgs of sugar at Tk 55 per kg, 2 kgs of lentil at Tk 55 per kg, 5 liters of soybean oil at Tk 100 per liter and 5 kgs of onions at Tk 20 per kg. Apart from this, buyers can buy 2 kgs of gram at Tk 55 per kg and one kg of dates at Tk 60 among the Iftar items.
As the peoples’ gathering increases rapidly, authorities concerned of TCB have increased the amount of products at the truck. Earlier, each truck was allotted with 1000 kgs oil which now stood at 1200 kgs, sugar allocation previously was 100 kgs which now raised into 800 kgs. Besides, at present, 600 kgs of pulses and 400 kgs of gram are allotted for each truck.
TCB's information officer Humayun Kabir said that, “At present, some products are being sold through truck at 80 places in the capital. TCB’s products are being sold in 500 trucks across the country. Due to the high demand, the crowd of buyers in the trucks has also increased. That is why the quantity of products has also been increased.”