Dhaka Times Report. Food grains are the responsibility of the government's food ministry. But there are reports that the food procurement program of the government is not getting the desired speed due to warehouse crisis. Compulsory collection activities are also going on slowly. A month has passed since the announcement of the collection of 10 lakh metric tons of paddy and rice, but the collection is not satisfactory.
It is known that so far it has been possible to buy 1 lakh 26 thousand 816 metric tons of rice according to the relevant sources of the Department of Food. According to related sources, on April 28, in the meeting of the food planning and distribution committee, it was decided to buy 9 lakh metric tons of rice and 150 thousand metric tons of paddy in the current Boro season. The price of rice is fixed at Tk 28 and paddy at Tk 18 per kg. So far, the food department has signed an agreement with 17 thousand 577 mill owners and millers for the purpose of supplying rice. Among them, 5 thousand 434 in Rajshahi division, 6 thousand 947 in Rangpur division, 1 thousand 892 in Khulna division, 2 thousand 689 in Dhaka division, 45 in Sylhet division, 450 in Chittagong division and 20 millers in Barisal division were contracted by the food department.
According to the related sources, the target of collection of 2 lakh 78 thousand 352 kg of rice from Rajshahi division has been set for the current season. According to that, 59 thousand 251 metric tons of rice has been purchased so far. An average of 7 thousand 596 kg of rice is being bought in this department every day. A target of buying 2 lakh 89 thousand 190 kg of rice from Rangpur division has been set. According to that, it has been possible to collect 14 thousand 499 metric tons of rice till Sunday. That is, the condition of collection in this department is not satisfactory. Many concerned have expressed doubts about the collection of rice from this department as per the target.
A target of 90 thousand 281 metric tons of rice has been set from Khulna division, but only 9 thousand 819 metric tons have been purchased in the last one and a half months. In this department also collection activities are going on slowly. Although a target of 1 thousand 574 metric tons of rice has been fixed from Barisal division, only 95 metric tons have been collected so far. A target of 6 thousand 358 metric tons of rice has been set from Sylhet division, but 3 thousand 730 metric tons have been purchased so far. Although the target of buying 1 lakh 92 thousand 601 metric tons of rice from Dhaka Division has been set, only 829 metric tons have been purchased so far. Although the target of collection of 41 thousand 644 metric tons of rice from Chittagong division has been set, it has been possible to buy 9 thousand 393 metric tons so far.
Sources in the food department said that foodgrains under the rural infrastructure development program have not yet been released from warehouses. The newly constructed food warehouses are also yet to be realized. As a result, even if the miller wants to deliver rice quickly, it is not possible to receive it. This can lead to major problems later on. Especially if the price of rice increases, the miller will no longer want to pay rice at the government rate. Then he will have nothing to say. Because he wanted to supply rice but the government could not accept it due to shortage of warehouses. This is the failure of the food department, not the millers. In this regard, director of food department (collection) Md. Badrul Alam told Jugantar on Sunday that the collection process is going on a little slow because of the lack of space. Apart from that the TR allocation is still not removed from the warehouse. Paddy and rice are being stored in newly constructed warehouses. But the collection process will speed up in a few days. If MPs withdraw TR allocation by June 30, there will be no more problem. There will be no problem in meeting food grain collection targets.
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