Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)has cancelled licences of around 700 dealers for breaching the terms and conditions of the contracts, officials said.
Besides, regulatory action against the dealers concerned is being taken time to time for their involvement in irregularities in selling essential items allotted by TCB, they added.
The authorities concerned have recentlyfound allegations of irregularities in selling key essential items in different parts of the country.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has already warned of taking stern action against any dealer if found involved in any irregularities in selling essential items, said a press statement of the commerce ministry.
According to an official of TCB, licences of 700 dealers were scrapped and their security money was confiscated.
"They did not renew their contracts for a long time. They were even reluctant to take delivery of essential items, a prerequisite for maintaining their dealership rights," he said.
The state-run agency had communicated with these dealers before revoking their licences and confiscating security money, he added.
When contacted, a senior official said the agency cancelled the licences of around 700 dealers for various reasons.
Some dealers deactivated their licences willingly while some others did so before contesting elections, he said.
Besides, licences of others were suspended on the basis of the reports of Deputy Commissioners (DC) concerned, he added.
Some dealers also had their licences cancelled as they did not have shops, he mentioned.
According to the data availablewith the state-run entity, licences of 662 dealers were scrapped as of January 28 this year.
Some 2,861 dealers are listed with TCB across the country, according to the state-run agency that works towards keeping the prices of essential commodities stable and supplying them at affordable prices to consumers.
TCB cancelled the licences for the sake of consumers' interests, said the official.
TCB sells sugar, soybean oil, red lentils, gram and date through dealers at subsidised rates as part of its intervention into the market.
As part of the move, it launched open market sale (OMS) of key essential items since April 01 to keep prices within the purchasing power of the people ahead of Ramadan.
It is selling goods at50 points in Dhaka, 16 in Chattogram, 10 in other divisional cities and four in each district town.
The commerce ministry recently has formed eight teams for monitoring TCB selling activities across two Dhaka city corporations.
The organisation counts huge financial losses every year and gets subsidy from the government, a commerce ministry official said.
The government provided the state-run agency with about Tk 3.76 billion in subsidies, including interest, between fiscal years 2010-11 and 2015-16, according to the TCB.
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