'TCB goods rotten, often pricey'
Dealers stop sale but demand more commission
A TCB dealer's shop at Zila Parishad intersection in Nilphamari town remains shut as dealers in the district decided to stop drawing items from the government warehouse.Photo: STAR
Dealers of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) in the district have stopped receiving goods supplied from the government godown, hampering the authorities' efforts to keep the prices of essential commodities stable during the Ramadan. The dealers have taken the decision demanding rise of their commission and reduction of price of lentils, and protesting the supply of rotten date, said Rahmatullah Ruhul, president of Nilphamari unit of TCB dealers association, referring to Abdul Gafur, president of the Rangpur divisional unit of the association. "For the last week of July the government has allocated against each dealer 1,000 kg of chhola (chick pea), 2,000 kg of sugar, 600 kg of lentils and 406 kg of soya bean oil. But prices of allocated TCB goods are either higher than market prices or the same. Besides, date and chick pea supplied by TCB are of inferior quality compared to those available in the markets. We are not interested to draw such items,” he said. "If this situation continues we will surrender our license and do other business," said Joad Hossain, a TCB dealer in Nilphamari. There are 396 TCB dealers in Rangpur division and 20 of them are in Nilphamari district. They were given dealership after this government came to power in 2008. “Most of them were given dealership considering their affiliation with the ruling party. Only a few of them are genuine traders,” said Abdul Wahed Sarker, president, Nilphamari Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Visiting different areas of Nilphamari municipality, this correspondent found that many TCB dealers have no shop of their own. Those who have shops have not hung any signboard to help consumers easily identify them. From May to July, TCB supplied different commodities to its dealers eight times, sources said. Earlier dealers made good profit by selling a few commodities received from the TCB. But instead of selling them to the consumers from their shops, the dealers often sold them directly to wholesalers who drew the goods from the TCB godowns by showing authorisation letters issued by the dealers. The dealers did it to get the profit without doing any 'extra work' for reaching the items to consumers. Consumers in different areas of the district alleged to this correspondent that they were unaware about the presence of any TCB dealer in their respective areas as they have no signboard and there is no publicity about it from the authorities. District Marketing Officer ATM Ershad Alam Khan, also member secretary of market monitoring team of the district, said, "In the meeting of task force committee this month, only three out of total 20 TCB dealers in the district were present. Many dishonest dealers have refrained from drawing TCB goods in fear as monitoring has been intensified." Talking to newsmen, Sujauddoula, in-charge of TCB in Rangpur region, claimed that date and other commodities supplied by TCB are of good quality. “We have sent message to higher authorities to reduce prices of some commodities to make the dealers and consumers interested about TCB goods,” he added.
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