Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Sunday said that the government would provide six essential items to 10 million poor people of the country at an affordable price during the month of Ramadan.
These six items are onion, edible oil, lentil, sugar, dates and chickpeas.
The minister said this after emerging from the weekly Cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat in the afternoon.
He said that they had earlier planned to provide essential items to some 5 million people during Ramadan.
The prime minister had directed the Commerce Ministry to expand the facility and reach one crore people, the minister added.
Tipu Munshi said that the government had earlier prepared a list of poor and the helpless affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"That list will be utilized this time for providing them with essential items at an affordable price," he added.
Responding to a question, Tipu said that the edible oil price had been adjusted in the local market due to the price hike in the international market and also for rise in container freight fare.
He cautioned that action would be taken if anyone sold edible oil at a price higher.
The government recently fixed the maximum retail price of bottled edible oil at Tk168 per liter.
