TCB items not meeting the needs of low income group

Staff Reporter :
The last refuge of the low income group of people is TCB.
They become happy to receive TCB items and as such wait for hours in queue. Sadly it is also going out of the reach of the poor people.
They are not getting adequate products even after waiting for hours in queues in different parts of the country including the capital.
Due to a short supply of TCB products like edible oil, lentil and sugar which are generally sold from trucks are exhausted in the twinkling of an eye when scores of people remain standing in long queues.
As the prices of essential commodities are soaring up, the low income groups as well as middle income groups are desperately running after the products supplied by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
The price hike has also badly affected the people outside the capital who are looking for the TCB items to meet their demands amid this volatile market situation.
Poor people of the low income group in Bera Upazila in Pabna district were seen waiting for five to six hours in lines to purchase the TCB items, but many of them don’t get products as they don’t have TCB cards.
Many poor people without cards waited for TCB items, but they are barred as they don’t have such cards essential for purchasing products.
Upazila administration sources said that they had an allocation of 22,105 cards for Bera Upazila and each card holder can buy daily essentials once in a month at a low price.
Many impoverished people alleged that only the favourite and supporters of Ward Councilor and UP Chairman get the TCB cards to buy products.
The local administration said that their process of distributing the cards was very transparent. But they said if they received such allegations they would look into the matter so that real persons can get the cards.
The common people have demanded for increasing the number of cards so that they can also enjoy the benefits amid this crisis.
“We have prepared the list of cards transparently. Currently we have allocated 22,105 cards in the upazila. But we don’t have any plan to increase the number of cards,” Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Bera Upazila Md Sabur Ali told the New Nation on Thursday.
“The demand for TCB items is increasing as the price is low. It is a relief for the poor people at the moment,” he added.
Like Pabna, the demand for TCB items is increasing in other parts of the country amid the economic crisis.