Rate Higher Than Market Price
OMS rice shops in Patuakhali town see few buyers
A centre for open market sale (OMS) in 'court area' of Patuakahli town sees very few customers as the government-fixed price of the rice at OMS shops is now higher than that of the same category rice in the local market. Photo: STAR
OMS (open market sale) rice shops in Patuakhali town see only a few buyers as the price fixed by the government's food department is higher than the market price. Surprisingly though, price of per kg of rice under the OMS programme meant for poor people is Tk 24 while the same category of rice is selling in the market at Tk 20 to 22 kg. However, many people go to the OMS shops to buy atta (coarse flour) that sells cheaper than the market price. Food department runs OMS shops through local dealers selling rice and atta in the open market to facilitate poor people buy the food items cheaply. Patuakhali district food office employed nine dealers in the municipality area on January 1 this year and one tonne of rice and 1.3 tonne of atta are allocated daily for each dealer. The department fixed Tk 24 as selling price for a kg of rice and Tk 20 for a kg of atta and anybody can buy 5 kg of rice and 5 kg of atta daily from an OMS shop from 9:00am to 4:00pm. In the beginning, people, especially those from low income groups, often queued up in lines to buy rice and atta from there as market price was higher. But market price of rice reduced during the last two months and now a kg of ordinary rice is selling for Tk 20 to 22 in the market. But many people come to these shops to buy atta as a kg of it sells there at Tk 20 against Tk 28 to 30 in the market, said Forkan Mridha, an OMS dealer of court area (near Kalatala Bazar) in the municipality. "I came here to buy atta as its price is less than that in the market. But I didn't buy rice from the OMS shop as its price is higher," said Abdul Mannan, a rickshaw puller. Nasima Begum, wife of a day labourer residing at Kalatala slum, said she came to the shop to buy only atta as it saves Tk 8 to 10 per kg. "It takes around a month to sell one tonne of rice that the food department allocates for a day while 1.3 tonnes of atta that we receive per day is finished by noon everyday," said dealer Forkan Mridha. He suggested re-fixing OMS rice price at Tk 16 to 18 per kg to enable poor people to save money. Mesbah Uddin, an official of district food department, said they have nothing to do regarding the matter as the prices are fixed by the government.
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