TCB cards: Stop the suffering and the anomalies

As a step towards bringing relief to the people in the face of price hike of essential commodities including edible oil, the sale of products at affordable prices through special cards has started to 10 million families on Sunday. Last week, the government announced the issuance of these cards to help poor and low-income people. The announcement was a positive and commendable initiative amidst the unstable market situation and the helplessness of low-income people running after trucks to get goods at low prices. Prothom Alo also appreciated the initiative in its editorial at the time.

However, there are also fears that the biggest challenge will be how to compile a list of 10 million low-income and needy families. People are receiving TCB products against the cards distributed across the country in the first phase. However, in a Prothom Alo report the same apprehension has been reflected in many places. Sufferings have also been added to this.

People are happy to get edible oil, sugar, lentils and onions at lower prices than the market. However, the distribution of less cards as per the allocation, late arrival of TCB trucks, people standing in line for hours in the sun, running from one centre to another, returning empty handed without getting the product even with the card, is seen in many districts. People's working hours are being wasted due to late sale of products. Many people are losing their full day's wages by skipping work to buy commodities at low prices.

There are also allegations of serious irregularities such as distribution of cards to more than one person in a family and to relatively well-off families. As a result, many poor and low-income people have been deprived. According to the victims, the UP chairman and members in charge of making the cards gave the cards to their men and people of their choice.

Besides, everyone had the scope to stand in queues to buy TCB products until now. But, now only the cardholders across the country except Dhaka can buy the TCB products. As a result, others will not have the opportunity. Around 60-70 million poor people have been living in dire straits due to the Covid-19 pandemic and exorbitant price hike of daily essentials, say the economists. For this, more cards have to be issued to bring more people under the scheme.

At the same time, the government needs to think whether it can keep the system open for people to buy TCB products from in queue. In the second phase of TCB sales, chickpeas will be added due to holy Ramadan. But people also demanded rice. The government could also consider selling rice like edible oil at curtailed prices.

The market has begun to recover due to some of the government's decisions, including increasing surveillance and cracking down on market irregularities, and reducing VAT on certain products. However, consumers are still not fully relieved ahead of Ramadan. As a result, the sale of TCB products through cards must be successful to stop stocking goods by unscrupulous traders. Consumers will be deprived of the desired benefits if the authorities do not take action against harassment and irregularities. Earlier, various relief activities including Covid assistance were stalled due to lack of proper supervision and irregularities. We do not want to see such a chaotic situation again.