Govt to sell potato, egg, onion, pointed gourd under OMS from tomorrow
Such perishable items will be sold for the first time to give relief to the fixed income group people, says the agriculture secretary
The government has decided to start selling potatoes, eggs, onions and pointed gourds under Open Market Sale (OMS) in Dhaka from tomorrow.
"For the first time we are going to start selling perishable items such as potatoes, eggs, onions and pointed gourds at different points in the city to give relief to the fixed income group people," Agriculture Secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian told BSS today (14 October).
He said the government will also sell some vegetables at subsidised prices to low-income groups as part of a pilot project in the capital.
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Agriculture Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Commerce Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Commerce Secretary Md Selim Uddin and Emdad Ullah are expected to attend the opening programme to be held in front of the Directorate General of Food office tomorrow.
"We will inaugurate the selling of potatoes, eggs, onions and pointed gourds in front of the Directorate General of Food office at Abdul Ghani Road at 11am tomorrow," Emdad said.
He said per kilogram of potatoes will be sold at Tk30, per dozen of eggs at Tk130, per kilogram of onions at Tk70 and green vegetables will sold at least 20-30% less than the existing market price.
The agriculture secretary said the ministry will directly collect the perishable items, such as potatoes, eggs, onions and pointed gourds, directly from farmers and then sell those through the OMS at designated spots in the city.
At least 20 locations have been fixed for selling the items for the next two weeks and if the pilot project is successful, the number of selling points and days would be increased, he added.
The decision was made at a special meeting between the interim government's Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and several other advisers at the chief adviser's official residence yesterday (13 October), according to the agriculture ministry.
It said the Department of Agricultural Marketing, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will provide the necessary support to implement the decision.
