Barishal City Corporation Cancels Over 58,000 TCB Family Cards

The Barishal City Corporation has canceled 58,426 Family Cards allocated by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) for low-income citizens. These cards were distributed during the tenure of former mayor Sadiq Abdullah. Out of the 90,000 cards distributed, the 58,426 were recently invalidated.

The city corporation authorities stated that the cards were canceled due to false information, violation of regulations, and multiple cards being obtained by a single family. The canceled cards will be redistributed among the genuinely needy citizens.

It is reported that 129,921 people in the 10 upazilas of Barishal outside the city corporation currently receive TCB services. Through 91 dealers, they are provided with three products—two liters of oil, two kilograms of lentils, and five kilograms of rice—which have a market value of over 900 BDT. However, through TCB, citizens receive these products for only 470 BDT.

Engineer Shatadal Mondol, Assistant Director of TCB Barishal, stated, “After verification, we found irregularities in 58,426 cards. It is against the rules for one family to receive multiple cards. Some cards had incomplete information, while others did not meet the required conditions.”

He further mentioned that TCB had returned 31,574 smart cards to the city corporation. After the card distribution is completed, products will be supplied.

Confirming the situation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the City Corporation, Mohammad Rezaul Bari, stated, "These cards have been canceled for various reasons. We have decided to redistribute the canceled cards to the genuinely needy people. However, the chances of those whose cards were canceled receiving new cards are very low."