One crore rural poor to get 10kg free rice in Ramadan: Food minister

The government will distribute 10g free rice to over one crore families under Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme during Ramadan, said Food Minister Sadhan Chandar Majumder. 

 “50 lakh families will get at the beginning of Ramadan, while the rest will be given rice at the end of the month,” he told reporters at the secretariat on Thursday.

The programme will be carried out in line with the instructions given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said, adding that this programme will be operated specially in the rural areas across the country based on lists prepared by the concerned union councils. 

Under the programme, the rice will be distributed by the concerned union councils after verifying the enrollment of the stakeholders by the concerned upazila VGF committee, he said.  

The minister said the country has achieved bumper Aman yield and it would not need to import rice if good yield of Boro paddy is achieved.

He also said the government usually distributes rice among the people during the Ramadan under rationing, Kabikha, TR and OMS programmes.

“Rice and flour are distributed through 2,500 dealers across the country on a regular basis,” he said, adding that the low-income people can buy five kg rice at Tk 30 per kg and three kg flour at Tk 24 per kg under the OMS programme.

He added over one crore families of the country get five kg rice and three kg flour each round the year and no one will face scarcity of rice in the Ramadan.

Like in the previous years, a total 50 lakh families will be provided with 30 kg rice at Tk 15 per kg from March 1 and under the OMS programme, people usually get rice in five months -- March, April, May, September and October – every year.