Smart card hitch deprives lakhs in Ctg of TCB products for months

Infograph: TBS

People entitled to purchase essential commodities from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) in Chattogram city have been deprived of the service for around five months as their previous cards have been cancelled, while the process of shifting them into TCB Smart Family Cards is delayed.   

In areas under the Chattogram City Corporation, government allocation of TCB services has been made for 3,00,963 low-income people, of which Smart Family Cards have been activated for only 8,000 people as of 10 June.

As such, 20,92,963 people are currently unable to avail TCB services in the port city.  

On the other hand, those who are currently able to enjoy the service of the TCB sale programme allege insufficient supply of commodities, compared to demand.

Md Mohsin, a resident of the city's Dampara area, told The Business Standard, "Our previous cards have been cancelled, and we have not received the Smart Family Card yet. As a result, we cannot buy products allocated by the government at fair prices for several months. We want our cards to be delivered quickly."

Meanwhile, the Chattogram regional TCB office says the city corporation has not been able to provide the data of the beneficiaries properly, subsequently causing the delay in card delivery and activation. 

The city corporation, however, acknowledges the delay, saying that they are struggling with sending data due to complications with their website server.

Meanwhile, both offices say they will complete deliveries of all 3,00,963 Smart Family Cards in the city by 30 June. 

However, given the situation, questions have arisen about whether it will be possible to deliver and activate all cards by the said period. 

Shafiqul Islam, head of TCB Chattogram regional office, told TBS that so far 13,800 smart cards have been supplied from Dhaka to the port city. Of these, 8,000 cards so far have been activated by the city corporation.

Mohammad Ashraful Amin, secretary of Chattogram City Corporation, shared with TBS that the process of the card listing process is a bit complicated. Therefore, there is difficulty to some extent in uploading the data of the beneficiaries.

At present, TCB Smart Family Card holders are allowed to purchase TCB products worth Tk540 once a month. These include 2 kgs of lentils, 2 litres of soybeans, 1 kg of sugar, and 5 kgs of rice.

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, while presenting the FY26 national budget on 2 June, stated that essential commodities are being provided to 57 lakh TCB card-holding families in the country since January this year to protect the marginalised from the brunt of inflation.

The adviser also recommended including an additional 5 lakh families in the TCB sale programme.