Middle-aged Amjad Hossain is a cleaner. He lives in Banglamotor area of the capital. The family is struggling with an income of 10 to 12 thousand. For this, he came behind Motaleb Plaza in the capital’s Paribag area to buy rice and flour from the Open Market Sale (OMS) under the food friendly program of the Food Department on Wednesday before seven in the morning. He has heard that rice and flour are available here at a low price. But even after standing in the queue early in the morning, his serial fell to number 28. That is, 27 other people have come and lined up before Amjad Hossain. Some have taken up space by placing pieces of bricks, cuts or packets of goods.
Amjad Hossain told Prothom Alo, “He used to give rice and flour here regularly. For this, I came in the morning and gave the cereal. But many others have come before me. But when I came here, I heard that trucks are not coming here for several days. Not sure if it will come today or not. Waiting after work. Let’s see what happens.
Hundreds of people waited in line from early morning till 10 am today to get rice and flour from the government’s OMS for the low-income people of the capital, but the truck did not come. This has increased people’s expectations. Most of the people who came here had not eaten in the morning. Many people said, if you don’t get the rice here, you won’t be able to cook at noon. When the day started to grow, some of them broke the queue and left for work.
One such traveling tea seller is Abdul Malek. He told Prothom Alo, ‘I came after 6 o’clock. I came and got serial number 6. But I did not get rice even after waiting till 10 o’clock. Now I have to go out to earn, otherwise I can’t do today’s market. If you could buy rice from here, you would save some money. But today it does not seem to give the product. Because, when I took the product earlier, the product was available between 9 am and 9:30 am.’
The condition of Habibur Rahman who came here to take the goods is almost the same. He works as a security guard in a house in Iskaton Garden area. No time to leave work. In the morning, someone came to buy rice and flour at a low price. But he is also tired of waiting since that morning. Meanwhile, he did not eat breakfast.
Regretfully, Habibur Rahman told Prothom Alo, “I did not get the product even after coming two days in a row.” You can’t leave work and come back again and again. But the way the prices of things are increasing, my family of 3 cannot survive on a salary of 9000 rupees. If you want to buy food from the market, you have to eat one day and fast the other day. If you can buy products at a low price, you will have at least two meals.
Not only Paribag area. The image of the nearby Kanthalbagan slope is also the same. At least half a hundred people were waiting in this area since dawn. But since the products were not available here for several days, everyone was sitting in a random manner without standing in a queue. Meanwhile, hearing a truck coming at around 8 am, everyone started lining up. After a while, it is known that this truck will deliver goods elsewhere. The driver of the truck stopped for tea while the truck was passing through this area. That’s why everyone thought that rice will be given here.