Bangladesh

Garment workers queue up to buy rice at Tk 30 per kg

Garment workers are struggling with price hikes of essential commodities. To provide some relief, rice is being sold at Tk 30 per kg under a special Open Market Sale (OMS) programme. Workers can buy rice from OMS trucks by showing their identity cards, with each worker allowed to purchase up to 10kg. They have been gathering at sales points since morning to buy rice at the subsidised rate. Some wait in queues, others collect their rice, while some head home with their purchases. Many come to buy rice during breaks from work or their lunch breaks. Such scenes were seen in Mirpur in the capital and Hemayetpur in Savar.

Tanvir AhammedDhaka
An OMS worker hands over sacks of subsidized rice to garment workers from a distribution truck in Dhaka's Mirpur-11.
Garment workers buy rice at a subsidised rate of Tk 30 per kilogram in Hemayetpur, Savar.
Under the special OMS programme, each worker can buy up to 10kg of rice in Hemayetpur, Savar.
Colecting rice from an OMS truck in Hemayetpur, Savar.
Gathering in front of an OMS truck to buy rice in Hemayetpur, Savar.
Standing in line, they wait for their turn.
Shielding his head with an empty sack against the sun, a worker waits patiently in line.
Waiting in front of an OMS truck to buy rice during their lunch break.
Carrying her sack of purchased rice, a garment worker heads home in Hemayetpur, Savar.
Two women workers return to their workplace with rice bought from an OMS truck during their lunch break in Hemayetpur, Savar.
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