Elderly woman waits five hours in TCB queue, mother with infant stands nearby
Photo Collected
In Dhaka, the morning rush to secure subsidized goods at the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) ahead of the Eid festival has devolved into scenes of chaos and prolonged waits, exposing the strain on household budgets for many residents. On Saturday, shoppers, including the elderly and mothers with young children, endured hours-long queues and jostling at the TCB sales point in Rampura.
One such shopper, Rabeya Khatun, a woman in her seventies, expressed the daily struggle for survival. Widowed and living alone after her son’s passing ten months ago, she relies on TCB’s discounted oil, lentils, and sugar to manage her expenses. Despite the physical toll of standing for hours, a familiar necessity that leaves her back aching, she said there was little alternative. “What else can I do, sir? We have to buy things this way,” she told a local publication.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The TCB truck arrived nearly three hours later than scheduled, around 11:00 AM, sparking immediate disarray in the women’s line as eager buyers pushed forward. Rabeya Khatun, who had arrived early and was frail, ultimately received her goods nearly five hours after joining the queue, by which time relief was etched onto her tired face.
The economic pressures are not limited to the elderly. Shampa Begum, a mother of two, stood in line with her 1.5-month-old infant. Her husband, an auto-rickshaw driver, struggles to make ends meet in their rented accommodation. “The cost of living has risen so much that I have to stand in line with my infant,” she said.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Even those who were once self-sufficient are now seeking assistance. Ashraf Ali, a rickshaw puller in his sixties, who lives with his wife, finds it increasingly difficult to manage their household expenses as his physical capacity to work diminishes. His two sons have moved out after getting married, leaving him and his wife to fend for themselves.
Interactions with shoppers revealed that the TCB queues are no longer exclusively for the impoverished. Many middle-class families are also present, compelled to rely on these subsidized goods to bridge the gap between their income and escalating living costs.
On Saturday, over 200 men and women gathered at the Rampura TV Center TCB point. The TCB offered a maximum of two liters of oil, two kilograms of lentils, and two kilograms of sugar per person. While separate lines were designated for men and women, disorder soon erupted in the women’s queue. TCB staff struggled to maintain control, temporarily halting distribution before resuming amid the continued commotion. Shoppers from Rampura, Badda, Goran, Meradia, and surrounding areas participated in the day’s sales.
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