3-month special OMS in flood-hit areas

The Ministry of Food has initiated a special Open Market Sale (OMS) programme to provide rice and flour at subsidised prices to residents of 14 flood-affected districts in the Chittagong and Sylhet divisions for three months. 

The programme, aimed at alleviating the hardships faced by these communities, will be implemented at the municipal and union levels.

Food Secretary Ismail Hossain shared the details of the initiative during a press briefing held in the conference room of the Ministry of Food on Sunday (September 1).

He announced that special OMS centers will be set up in 230 locations across the flood-affected areas. Each centre will distribute 1 tonne of rice and 1 tonne of flour daily, totaling 230 tonnes of each per day. Over the three months of September, October, and November, a cumulative 14,490 tonnes of rice and 14,490 tonnes of flour will be sold.

The pricing for the subsidised food items will be Tk 30 per kg for rice, Tk 24 per kg for loose flour, and Tk 55 for a 2 kg packet of flour. 

This programme is accessible to all residents in the flood-affected regions. The government will allocate Tk 41.12 crore for rice and Tk 49.55 crore for flour, amounting to a total food subsidy of approximately Tk 90.68 crore.

Additionally, the food secretary provided an update on the nationwide OMS activities. Currently, rice and flour are being sold through the OMS program in city corporations, four labor-intensive districts (Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, and Narsingdi), and in district headquarters and municipalities across the country. 

The programme operates through 912 centres, distributing 910 million tonnes of rice and 1,260.50 million tonnes of flour. 

In Dhaka alone, OMS activities are ongoing in 191 centres, including 118 shops, 70 trucks, and 3 centres under a special innovation initiative.