TCB sales: Returning empty-handed after inordinate wait

Thousands of people throng the TCB fair price trucks, waiting for hours in the hope of buying oil, lentils, sugar and onions for less than the market's skyrocketing prices. Distributors sell these commodities from TCB trucks at 134 points in the capital city. But the demand is far more than the supply.

The truck was supposed to pick up the goods from the TCB warehouse in Tejgaon and come straight to the selected spot at Mohammedpur bus stand. However, the police stopped the vehicle en route, at the Bijoy Sarani intersection, and forced the staff of the TCB distributors to sell them four bottles (eight litres) of soybean oil.

Then when the truck finally reached Mohammedpur and began selling the goods, the distributors received a phone call from the office of a local councillor. Then three of the councillor's men came up, barged through the line and bought six litres of oil ahead of the others who had been waiting for so long.

Abu Sayeed, the owner of Lopa Traders which is the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)'s Mohammedpur bus stand distributor, made these allegations while speaking to Prothom Alo.

He said, "The police at Bijoy Sarani stop the trucks of all the TCB distributors and forcibly buy oil from them."

He further said they pay for the oil, but this was a violation of the rules. Again, when councillor and other powerful people send their people, they cannot be refused. As a result, many of the people who have been waiting in long lines for so long, are deprived.

After waiting for four and a half hours, 16 of the people who had been part of the crowd in front of the TCB truck at the Mohammedpur bus stand yesterday, Saturday, could not buy soybean oil. They returned home with just two kgs of lentils and sugar each. Another 69 persons -- 39 men and 26 women -- didn't manage to buy anything at all.

Roshanara Begum, a housemaid, had been waiting in the line in front of the truck since noon. After four hours, when there were just seven persons in front of her in the queue, the stock of commodities exhausted. As the truck drove away, she ran after it, asking them to sell her any little bit that was left. There was nothing left and she was left in tears.

When the TCB truck reached the Mohammedpur bus stand at 11:00am on Saturday, the people -- many waiting since 8:00 in the morning -- simply surged forward in a mad rush, pushing and shoving to make it to the front.

A buyer can purchase at the most two kgs of lentils and sugar, five kgs of onions and a two-litre bottle of soybean oil from the TCB trucks. The distributors make a package of these which they sell for Tk 610. In the open market this would cast Tk 1,045, so this means saving Tk 435.

The market price of onions now is Tk 70 per kg, lentils Tk 100 per kg, sugar Tk 80 per kg and one litre of bottled soybean oil Tk 170.

Hasna Begum, over 60 years old, had been standing in line for the TCB truck at the Dayaganj intersection in Jatrabari since 9:00am. There were another 90 persons in front of her, waiting for the fair price commodities.

By the time it was 1:00pm, Hasna was still nowhere near the truck, but could hear the other women say that the oil had been finished. But Hasna still waited patiently, hoping at least to take lentils, sugar and onions home. But after a four-hour wait in Saturday's sweltering heat, she went home empty handed.

It was the same 18km away in Rupnagar. Soybean oil supplies ran out early because of the high demand. And after waiting for hours, at least 83 men and women went back without any commodities.

Sales representatives of the TCB distributors said that with prices of essentials spiralling, the pressure of people is rising steadily. A truck brings commodities for 200 or 250 people, but around 400 or 500 people turn up.

The people also complained of mismanagement and chaos in the queues. Mohammad Nasim, in charge of distribution, told Prothom Alo that fights broke out in the lines and it sometimes was impossible to manage it.

It was mostly slum dwellers who came to buy commodities from the TCB truck at Rupnagar in Mirpur Section 6 on Saturday. But others of low income families also lined up. A man who works for a private firm, standing in the line, said that he cannot run his family on the salary he receives. He called upon the government to control the market strictly.

There were 70 women in front of Asma Begum in the line. "We won't manage to get anything today, so there is no point of waiting," some of them said in frustration.

Prothom Alo correspondent Faizullah was rough handled by the police when he was recording on video how they were helping themselves to the fair price goods from the TCB truck at Hatirjheel around 12:00pm Saturday.

There were over 350 men and women waiting in line at around 10:00am there in the scorching heat. At around 12:00 at noon a police vehicle drove up. The police directed their people who began loading oil, sugar, lentils and onions from the TCB truck into their vehicle.

When the Prothom Alo correspondent began recording this scene of police helping themselves to the commodities without bothering about the long line of waiting people, the Hatirjheel police station sub-inspector (SI) Ariful Islam tried to grab his mobile phone and told him to get into the police vehicle.

When the correspondent refused to hand over his phone, he was roughed up by the police and threatened to be taken to the police station. He was then kept for one hour in the police vehicle.

He was allowed to leave after the video was erased from his phone. But he managed to retrieve the video recording later.

The salespersons on the TCB truck at Hatirjheel said they managed to give commodities to 238 persons. They had to break the serial to hand out 11 packages of oil, sugar, lentils and onions to members of police, not maintaining the serial in the queue. But they also said that the police helped the people to maintain the lines.

The stock fizzled out by 3:00pm and around 50 to 60 persons returned empty handed. Another 100 or so had left midway after waiting for hours since 9:00 in the morning. Seema Akhter said she had been waiting since the morning, carrying her infant, but didn't get anything in the end.