TCB’s six-product package not affordable for all

Abul Hashim, a security guard of a residential building in the capital’s Indira Road, earns Tk 10,000 a month. He lives in a one-room tin-shed house with his family. His monthly house rent is Tk 5000. At 11:00 AM on Thursday, he got to know that a TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh) truck, selling a six item package consisting of soybean oil, lentils, sugar, onion, gram and dates was at the Khamarbari area near Indira road. The price of the package is Tk 970.

Hashim only had Tk 450 on him. He tried borrowing money, but failed. When a homemaker from the building he works in called him up to buy some groceries, he told her about his predicament. She lent him Tk 500.

He was still Tk 20 short. He borrowed another Tk 50 from a local shopkeeper and then stood in the line in front of the TCB truck at 12:30 PM. After standing for two hours, he finally got to purchase his products.

Hashim told Prothom Alo, that he didn’t need to buy gram and dates but had to purchase two kg of dates and four kg of gram as part of the package.

Sellers of TCB distributor Messrs Sodai General Store were selling the products from the truck. As part of the “package”, they were selling two litres of soybean oil for Tk 220, two kg of lentils for Tk 130, two kg of sugar for Tk 110, five kg of onions for Tk 150, four kg of gram for Tk 200 and two kg of dates for Tk 160.

Mosammet Begum, a domestic worker, was another customer in front of the TCB line in Khamarbari on Thursday. She only had Tk 30 so she borrowed Tk 1000 from the lady of the house she works in. After two hours of waiting, she purchased the products after 2:00 PM. She told Prothom Alo that she needed to purchase other groceries in place of the gram and dates she was just forced to buy.

Earlier, the TCB trucks were selling soybean oil, lentils, sugar and onions in a package that cost Tk 610.

TCB trucks started selling gram from Monday (21 March). It started selling dates from the following day.

The official directive at first was to sell four kg of gram and one kg of dates to each customer. A TCB source said that the directive was later revised and the amount of gram was reduced to two kg. All distributors have been informed of the fresh directives.

TCB spokesperson Humayun Kabir told Prothom Alo, that selling more than the fixed amount is an offence. If any distributor or their seller does so, when informed, TCB will take immediate punitive measures.

The TCB truck in Khamarbari was selling two kg of dates, double the fixed amount. When asked, their seller Delowar Hossain claimed that they increased the amount after the buyers showed interest in buying more dates. He refused to speak further on the topic.

Non-government research organisation South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) executive director Selim Raihan feels that selling products in such packages is unrealistic. He told Prothom Alo, people with low income require the essentials. For many people, gram and dates are luxury food products. After the addition of these two products, this package is now out of reach for many.

Selim suggests selling gram and dates separately alongside the previous package. He feels the buyers should have the freedom of purchasing the products they need in desired quantities from TCB.

On Sunday, the government reduced the price of soybean oil from Tk 168 a litre to Tk 160 per litre. The price of five litre bottles of soybean oil was reduced by Tk 35 (Tk 7 per litre). The updated price was Tk 760. For loose soybean oil, the price was reduced by Tk 7 per litre. The new price was Tk 136.

But prices in the retail markets remain unchanged. The shopkeepers claim that companies haven’t started selling edible oil at the updated rate.

At Mainuddin General Store in the Railway market of the capital’s Tejkunipara, bottled soybean oil was being sold for Tk 138 per litre. At the adjacent shop, Abdur Rahim General Store, loose soybean oil was being sold for Tk 160 per litre, Tk 24 more than the government approved price.

The shopkeeper Abdur Rahim told Prothom Alo, he bought the oil a day before the government announced the price reduction. That’s why he is selling it at the previous price.

*This report appeared in Prothom Alo’s online edition and was rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy