Photo: Collected
The government has approved the purchase of 10,000 tonnes of lentils for sale at subsidised prices to low-income families holding family cards of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). Buying the lentils locally through the open tender method will cost a total of Tk 76.89 crore.
The commerce ministry’s proposal was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase at the Secretariat on Wednesday (23 September), with Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury in the chair. The expenditure has been set at Tk 76.89 crore under the finance ministry’s counter guarantee.
According to meeting sources, four firms took part in the open tender for the supply of lentils. Khulna’s ‘Zaitun Auto Rice and Dal Mills Limited’ won the work as the lowest responsive bidder in the technical and financial evaluation.
As per the recommendation of the Tender Evaluation Committee (TEC), the lentils are being bought at Tk 76.89 per kilogram, including transport costs up to TCB’s warehouses.
In the current 2026-27 fiscal year, a target has been set to procure 2 lakh 20 thousand tonnes of lentils for TCB, of which 17,528 tonnes have already been procured.
The agency’s stock will be strengthened further once another 10,000 tonnes are newly added. The lentils will be distributed quickly among cardholders under the government’s regular social protection programme.
