Hundreds of people queued since early morning to buy rice and flour under the government’s Open Market Sale (OMS) program in Rangpur on Thursday, but many of them returned home empty-handed amid allegations of irregularities and disorder.
The incident took place in Bairagi Para, where customers waiting for subsidised staples were involved in pushing and scuffles as multiple queues formed around the sales truck. Under the program, each customer can buy up to 5kg of rice at Tk30 per kg and 5kg of flour at Tk24 per kg.
Hundreds of people began waiting from around 6:00 am, hoping to buy the staples at subsidised prices amid rising costs of essential commodities. Customers alleged that the dealer sold the products to preferred people and declared the stock exhausted within two hours, despite hundreds still waiting in line.
During a visit to the area, hundreds of men and women were seen waiting around the truck. Instead of a single queue, three to four separate lines had formed, creating confusion and repeated arguments.
“I have been waiting since 6:00 am, but it is already 2:00 pm and I still haven’t received rice or flour,” said Mamtaz Begum of Kamal Kachna area. “If I cannot buy them at subsidised prices, I will not be able to cook at home. We are poor people and cannot afford the market price,” she said, alleging irregularities by the dealer.
Suja Mia of Bairagi Para said he had been waiting since 9am. “There should have been one queue, but there were four. I waited until 2:30pm but could not buy anything,” he said.
Customers from Nurpur, Station Road, Alamnagar and other areas made similar complaints.
Ramzan Ali, manager of the dealer operating the truck sale, denied the allegations. “We received one tonne each of rice and flour, enough for about 200 people. But 500-600 people were waiting. If the allocations were increased, we could serve more people,” he said.
Minhazul Islam, a food department monitoring officer, said the limited allocation meant it was not possible to serve everyone. “Demand has increased significantly as the prices of essential commodities have risen. Increasing the allocation would allow more people to benefit from the OMS program,” he said.