Ordeal of a bKash customer
Saturday, 9 May 2015
On May 6, I tried fruitlessly to send Tk100 to a destitute person in Chandpur from a bKash agent (01755651263) who sits in a tin-shed shop located on the north-western corner of the Bangladesh Secretariat (north-east of the National Press Club) in Dhaka.
At first, the agent did not have the courtesy to look at me. He said there is no arrangement in bKash for transferring 'only Tk 100 to another agent's number. Asked for rules, he just said he does what he decides. "I'm the law", said he adding: "Agency is mine and I only decide what to send."
Then I moved to find bKash agents nearby.
One sitting on a road said: "You cannot send Tk 100 through bKash."
Then I went to a shopping complex opposite the police box at Purana Paltan. One agent there told me point-blank: "bKash is not for Tk 100!"
So, if one cannot send Tk 100 through bKash, what is the use of keeping such a service? The Bangladesh Bank often says bKash is helping poor people to send money to their relatives in small amounts. If bKash is for big money-holders, where would the poor people go to send small amounts of money?
Ahmed Rafiq
Dhaka
arjayster@gmail.com