The Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said that the work of converting one crore Family Cards given by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh-TCB into smart cards is in progress to provide daily necessities to low-income people at affordable prices.
He conveyed the message while speaking as the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the second phase of TCB pawn sale program and the temporary storage of TCB products in Uttara area on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan among one crore family card holder low income families across the country organized by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh-TCB at Uttara of the capital on Monday.
The commerce minister said that the piloting work of conversion of TCB Card to Smart Card has been completed in Dhaka North City Corporation, Narayanganj and Barisal. All handwritten cards will be converted into smart cards with QR codes. Which is ongoing. If these cards are changed to smart cards, it will be easier to eliminate discrepancies.
Tipu Munshi said, ‘We all know that immediately after the corona crisis, due to the effect of the Ukraine-Russia war, commodity prices have increased abnormally around the world. It has also affected Bangladesh. Despite this, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered to continue providing goods at low prices to poor people. Many countries, including the developed world, are struggling to produce and supply food products. Not giving customers more than a certain amount of products. He also mentioned that Bangladesh is in a very good position due to the groundbreaking leadership of the Prime Minister considering the global market.
The Minister said that on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, goods are being supplied at low prices to one crore families of the country through the TCB under the Ministry of Commerce. Although given once every month, the second time is being given on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan and the target has been set to complete the distribution by the 15th.
In this context, the commerce minister also said that Sheikh Hasina feels the suffering of those who live below the poverty line. That is why she has brought one crore family card holders, that is, five crore people in each family on an average, but five crore people have been brought under this facility. He said that we had initially taken the initiative to provide essential products to 50 lakh people at affordable prices, but the Prime Minister has ordered to make it one crore. We are implementing it as per the instructions.
In response to a question from journalists whether the government is thinking of increasing the number of card holders to more than one crore, the minister said that now the family card that has been given is also a list of some low-income people, that is, those who are left out, but the number is not very large. Still we give products to people who are excluded from special consideration.
Regarding the stock of goods, the Minister of Commerce said that we have enough stock of goods. A comparison with the past few years shows that this year we are in a strong position in supply and distribution. When the price of a product goes up, everyone raises questions, but when the price goes down, no one says anything. Along with criticism, good work should also be praised. It gives encouragement to fulfill the responsibilities.
When asked why the prices are not falling in the market even though the stocks of products are sufficient, he told reporters that the Ministry of Commerce does not control the prices of all products in the market. There is a misconception in this regard that price hike means that the Ministry of Commerce is involved. Certain products including broiler chicken, meat and fish are not covered by other ministries. Still, we are working in coordination with the concerned ministries so that it is possible to keep the prices within the reach of people.
In order to increase the capacity of TCB, initiatives are being taken to build archives for the preservation of TCB products across the country, the Minister of Commerce said, as part of fulfilling this goal, this archive was inaugurated today in Uttara area. Through this, it will be easy to store the products in this region and deliver them to the hands of the card holders.
Senior Secretary of Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh was present as a special guest in the event. Besides, TCB Chairman Brigadier General Md. Ariful Hasan, Dhaka North City Corporation Ward No. 1 Councilor Md. Afsar Uddin Khan among others were present.