Bangladesh News

The food and disaster management ministry will again involve Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in the next open market sale (OMS) of rice despite disputes over depositing of the profit money BDR had earned from the previous sales.

The paramilitary force earned Tk 4.30 crore by selling 35,000 tonnes of rice at their outlets in 2007-08 financial year but it did not deposit the amount to the government exchequer, which disappointed the ministry officials.

The officials said they were against involving the BDR in the OMS again, but they were helpless in the face of “strong lobbying” by some quarters in favour of the BDR.

“We had no way but to involve them [BDR] again,” said a senior official of the food ministry, adding that 10,000 tonnes of rice will be given to the BDR in two phases for OMS operation that starts August 20.

The ministry officials said the BDR will profit about Tk 1.5 crore by selling the rice but the amount too may not be deposited as the two sides failed to reach a consensus over the matter.

Senior BDR officials said on various occasions that the money had been spent to meet the costs of transportation, preservation, hiring labourers, packing and loss of weight but the ministry did not accept the explanations.

The relation between the food ministry and the BDR became strained when the Food Directorate asked the latter in June to deposit the Tk 4.30 crore earned from selling rice at their outlets to the government fund.

The BDR informed the directorate in writing that the money was spent to meet the costs but the ministry told the BDR that it was not entitled to charge these costs as its members draw salaries from the exchequer.

An official of the ministry said as per OMS guidelines only dealers are entitled to the margin of Tk 1-1.50 a kg between the selling price at OMS outlets and the buying rate at delivery points.

“Only OMS dealers are entitled to take the profit and costs of running shops, employing labourers, handling and transportation of rice,” he told The Daily Star, seeking anonymity.

The government supplied 35,000 tonnes of rice to BDR from public food distribution system for OMS at Tk 24-23.50 a kg, and the selling rate was fixed at Tk 25 a kg. The BDR was supposed to deposit the margin of Tk 1-1.50 per kg to the government fund.

The BDR sold the rice at their outlets in Dhaka and Khulna at the rate of Tk 25 per kg to cushion the low-income group people against the soaring commodity prices and keep the rice market stable by increasing its availability.

The relation between the food ministry and the BDR further deteriorated after the ministry in early July asked for the details of the expenditures to pre-empt any audit disputes.

The matter came up for discussion at various meetings of the ministry in the presence of Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali and other senior officials. Many expressed sheer frustration over the matter.

When contacted, Director General of Food Directorate Peus Costa declined to comment on depositing of money by the BDR. “I will supply rice to the BDR again if I get official instructions,” he said.

Another official of the food ministry said, “The furore between the officials of the ministry and BDR is still on since the latter is going to operate OMS without any understanding on depositing the profit.”

He said the BDR is not supposed to do business and make profit the way dealers do. “The ministry also runs shops or outlets to sell rice at reduced price engaging its officials but none is getting any benefit for that,” he added.

The upcoming OMS will be operated in the capital and at upazila level six days a week for two months to benefit the poor and middle-income group people and check further rise in rice prices in Ramadan that begins in the first week of September.

Each individual will be allowed to buy 3kg of rice a day. This time 2.19 lakh tonnes of rice will be sold under the OMS programme and the selling rate has been fixed at Tk 28 per kg against the market prices of coarse rice between Tk 34 and Tk 38.