This was the question that came to her mind after Rawshan Ara Begum of Charaicha village in Barisal bought a 30 kilogram sack of rice under a government scheme for providing cheap rice to the ultra poor.

When the 55-year-old widow went to the Loharpul dealer centre in Sadar upazila on Tuesday to buy rice for her family, to her utmost surprise, the sack was missing half a kilogram of rice.

“We are being deprived even though the scheme was meant for helping us,” said Rawshan Ara.

She was not the only one, almost all the buyers alleged that they got shortweighted by the dealers.

As per the scheme, the government is selling rice at Tk 10 per kilogram to the disadvantaged.

Every year, during the periods of September-November and March-April, they will get 30kg of rice per month.

But, a number of the target group in Sadar upazila of Barisal is alleging that they have been receiving at least half a kilogram less rice in each 30kg sack they are purchasing.

While visiting the Loharpul dealer centre, it was found that each of the sacks of rice the people bought weighed around 29.5kg even though it was printed 30kg on the sacks.

“We bought a 30kg sack but it weighed 29.57kg,” said Rijia Begum of Sayestabad union.

However, Humayun Kabir, owner of Jobair enterprise, a rice dealer, claimed, “We sell the sacks exactly the way we receive from the government.”

But, Humayun Kabir Khan, monitoring officer of the government's Food Security Programme in Barisal Sadar, said, “There is no reason for people getting less than the stated weight of 30kg in each bag. Besides, the weight of the sack is around 300gm, which was not added.” “After finding the anomalies at the dealer level we informed the matter to the higher authorities,” he said.

Contacted, Abdullah Al Mamun, food inspector of Barisal Sadar upazila, said, “Before handing over the rice to the dealers we checked the sacks and there were 30kg of rice in each of them.”

He, however, said, “We haven't received any complaints yet. Action will be taken if any irregularity is found.”

Meanwhile, Ranjit Dutta, secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), Barisal, demanded ensuring exact weight in rice bag meant for the ultra poor.