PM orders introduction of card system for OMS programme

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered the introduction of a card system to the government’s Open Market Sale or OMS programme under which the poor are offered daily necessities at subsidised prices, reports bdnews24.com.

The prime minister issued the order at a cabinet meeting on Monday after the government noticed a lack of order in the distribution of rice, flour and other goods through the programme, Cabinet Secretary Mahbub Hossain said.

Currently, 10 million low-income families buy food at subsidised rates from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh through a system known as family card programme.

But under the OMS programme, people have to wait long hours for the products, and some at the end of the queue get nothing if a dealer runs out of the commodities.

Mahbub said the government would discuss whether the beneficiaries of other food programmes will get OMS cards. “We’re preparing to work on it.”