Middle Class As Well As Students in TCB Line

We who live in the hostel have more or less financial problems. We cannot bring money from home whenever we want. That's why we all decided together. Once a week, we will do the market from a TCB line.

Accordingly, today I had a market. So I did not go to class. I stood in the TCB line for two hours and did the necessary shopping.

Irin Sultana, a student of Jagannath University, said this.

She added in a disappointed voice, "I came to the capital from a middle-class family to study. But with the increasing expenses, I do not understand what will happen in the future. A solution is needed for this. I humbly request the government to look at the price of goods. Students like us, as well as the lower-middle class, will benefit from it."

The same is said by Enamul, a student of Kabi Nazrul Government College.

She said, "In the past, three meals a day in the hostel cost around Tk3,000, but now it costs about Tk4,000." To reduce costs, everyone in the mess has decided to buy goods from TCB trucks at least twice a week.

A picture similar to Laxmi Bazar in Old Dhaka is also seen in the capital's Rampura area. A grocer there said that everyone buys TCB products out of embarrassment. The lower and middle class as well as the rich, if they find them, use drivers and workers to take the products.

I spoke to CNG autorickshaw driver Bayjid Munshi. He said that if you wait for two hours, you will miss a trip. But if you get the products, you will save Tk400. That's why I stood in the TCB line.

Ice cream seller Mainul stood in the TCB line for two and a half hours. He said that there is no escape as soon as you see a car, people rush after it like bees. Now is the age of phones. Everyone gets news instantly. Even then, what to do, stand in line to buy things.

According to TCB sources, TCB sells products in special truck sales at 50 places in the capital without family cards. Each truck has products for 350 people. However, in most places, there are more people than the specified number of people who cannot buy the products.

Among these TCB products, edible oil can be purchased for Tk100 per liter, 1 kg of lentils for Tk60, rice for Tk30, and potatoes for Tk40. A customer has to pay Tk590 to buy these four products. It costs about Tk1,000 to buy the same products from the retail market. That is, buying products from TCB trucks saves at least more than Tk400.

For this reason, buyers have demanded the sale of fish, meat, and vegetables in the TCB line.

Khadijatul Kobra, a housewife standing in the TCB line in the Dhaka University area, said that only four things can be purchased from TCB. Rice, lentils, potatoes, and oil. Fish, meat, or any vegetables are not available. But it is necessary. I am demanding the government to consider the matter. Then middle-class people like us will be able to live a little better.

The same is said by Shahriar Rokon. He said, "I can't afford myself because of the price of goods. I demand from the government that fish, meat, and vegetables should also be sold at TCB. Then the lower and middle class like us will be benefited."

In this regard, a person in charge of a truck carrying goods of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) said, "Along with the lower and middle class, students studying in various colleges and universities are now standing in line to buy goods. At this time, they often demand the sale of fish, meat, and vegetables. Now if these are arranged for sale from TCB, then we will deliver everything to the people in that way."