Sunned rice discourages buyers at OMS outlets
Prisoners, ansar members also raise objection
Only a few people come to buy cheaper rice at OMS (open market sale) shops in Patuakhali town as locals are not habituated to eating sunned rice that is being supplied for the programme meant for low-income people.Photo: STAR
Open market sale (OMS) of rice meant for the low-income people has apparently failed to attract the target group here as sunned rice, not generally liked by locals, has been supplied to OMS dealers in the district. Not habituated to eating sunned rice, inmates of Patuakhali Jail and Ansar members in the district town have already raised objection to its supply as their food. "Local people are not used to having sunned rice and so, the numbers of buyers at our shops is very low. Now we can't sell 100 kg of rice the whole day whereas earlier we sold 1,000 kg (one tonne) of boiled rice in a few hours. We told the authority not to allocate sunned rice," said Siddiqur Rahman, an OMS dealer in Kalikapur area in Patuakhali town. "There is no crowd in the shop as local people are not interested to take sunned rice that is allocated for us to sell as OMS rice. We sold some boiled rice in the morning but the quantity was too small," said Forkan Mahmud, an OMS dealer at Kalatala Bazar. "We are not taking cheap rice from OMS shops as our children do not want to eat sunned rice. And so, we have to buy boiled rice from local market for high prices. But it is burdensome for us," said Lal Bibi, 50, a buyer from Kalikapur area. Taslima Begum, 45, of the same area said, "We cannot take the sunned rice as we are not habituated. We have to cook this rice three times daily as it gets rotten in a few hours. In case of boiled rice, cooking once a day is enough," Food control department is selling nine tonnes of rice under OMS programme in different places in the district town, said Mahbubur Rahman, district controller of food. Urging not to supply sunned rice for the inmates of Patuakhali jail, authorities sent a letter to the food official on February 28. "Prisoners are not used to taking sunned rice. Many of them have already warned the jail authorities not to supply sunned rice. The matter may lead to dissatisfaction among the inmates. There are over 400 prisoners and 80 jail policemen here," goes the letter signed by Patuakhali jail superintendent. The Ansar Battalion office in Patuakhali also sent letter to the food department on the same issue. A letter signed by its company commander Abdul Maleq Biswas on March 2 requested supplying boiled rice as Ansar members objected to taking sunned rice. When contacted, Mahbubur Rahman, district controller of food, said, "We informed our higher authority of the matter, quoting letters from Patuakhali Jail and Ansar Battalion. In this regard, we sent a letter narrating local situation on March 2."
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