Staff Correspondent
The government is going to provide 5 million families with 30kg rice at Tk15 per kg from March 1 under its Food Friendly Program, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on Sunday.
“OMS is an ongoing program. It will continue as long as there is demand for it. If necessary, it will continue throughout the year. Both rice and flour will be provided under the program,” the minister said while speaking to the media after inspecting an OMS program at Naogaon’s Atapotti and Rubir Mor area.
“Although Open Market Sale (OMS) is not a year-long program, it was undertaken so that low-income people would not suffer. That’s why we are still running the program. What we want to see is whether people are getting the benefit and whether any dealer is smuggling. For this reason, inspection and monitoring will continue,” said the minister.
He also said the food stock in government warehouses has exceeded all previous records, adding that Bangladesh currently has more than 2.1 million tons of food stock against the safety stock of 1 million tons.
Currently, the government is distributing around 14,000–15,000 tonnes of rice and flour per day across the country. According to the minister, other food assistance programs (Kabikha, VGF, TR) will also run alongside OMS.
“So, there is nothing to panic about. There will be no food shortage in the country,” he added.
The minister issued a warning to the traders not to stockpile food items for financial gain at the expense of the people.
“New laws are being enacted. Cases have already been filed against many groups. Surveillance has been increased,” he said.
Rajshahi Regional Food Controller GM Farooq Hossain Patwar and Naogaon District Food Controller Alamgir Hossain were among the officials present.
Meanwhile, the people who came to collect food items under the programme, said that the allocation is less than the demand.
The minister assured the people that their problems would be taken into account.

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