Bangladesh plans major food aid for urban poor
The interim government in emergency-ruled Bangladesh has planned a major expansion of subsidized food sale in the capital as experts warned that urban poor were the worst victims of the price spiral.
By PTI |
DHAKA: The interim government in emergency-ruled Bangladesh has planned a major expansion of subsidized food sale in the capital as experts warned that urban poor were the worst victims of the price spiral.
Commerce Adviser of the interim Cabinet Hossain Zillur Rahman said the government would increase open market sale (OMS) of rice from 350 tonnes a day to 1500 tonnes to ease the price pressure on poor.
"The government has noticed that present food allocation is not sufficient for vulnerable group in the urban areas (as) they are suffering most due to the price escalation," the Financial Express quoted him as saying.
Officials said the main staple rice would be sold at a subsidized rate, which is at least 25 per cent less than its current market price, at the OMS outlets.
They said the government also planned to distribute potato under its vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme, along with rice, to ease pressure on the main staple and to make maximum use of its huge production this year.
The development came as rice prices jumped again exposing poor and middle class people to extreme miseries with market operators attributing it on season-end and delay in rice import from neighbouring India.
Former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan said a "silent famine" is going on in the country as tens of millions of people are struggling to buy daily food needs.
Another ex-adviser and leading economist, Wahiduddin Mahmud, last week said urban poor were the hardest hit, "as they don't grow food and their income doesn't saw any increase since commodity prices began to escalate from middle of last year."
Commerce Adviser of the interim Cabinet Hossain Zillur Rahman said the government would increase open market sale (OMS) of rice from 350 tonnes a day to 1500 tonnes to ease the price pressure on poor.
"The government has noticed that present food allocation is not sufficient for vulnerable group in the urban areas (as) they are suffering most due to the price escalation," the Financial Express quoted him as saying.
Officials said the main staple rice would be sold at a subsidized rate, which is at least 25 per cent less than its current market price, at the OMS outlets.
They said the government also planned to distribute potato under its vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme, along with rice, to ease pressure on the main staple and to make maximum use of its huge production this year.
The development came as rice prices jumped again exposing poor and middle class people to extreme miseries with market operators attributing it on season-end and delay in rice import from neighbouring India.
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Former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan said a "silent famine" is going on in the country as tens of millions of people are struggling to buy daily food needs.
Another ex-adviser and leading economist, Wahiduddin Mahmud, last week said urban poor were the hardest hit, "as they don't grow food and their income doesn't saw any increase since commodity prices began to escalate from middle of last year."
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