Member of Parliaments (MPs), Upazila Chairman and Union Parishad Chairmen have been putting heavy pressure on district administration to hand over some relief distribution duty to them.
But the Honourable Prime Minister strictly directed the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief to exclusively handle the issue by district administration.
“The Prime Minister asked me not to handover even a single kilogram of food-grain to any-other individual or agency instead of Deputy Commissioners (DC),” Dr. Md. Enamur Rahman MP, State Minister for Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MDMR) told Business Mirror this afternoon.
“I will sack you from your position if I get any complain about relief distribution. The Prime Minister told me in a directive to me,” Dr. Md. Enamur Rahman said.
The DCs are preparing lists across the country about recipient of food aid from the government. They already sent list of 5.0 million ultra poor, poor and low-income group people.
Many MPs physically coming to me, many are calling but I have nothing to do with them. “The Honourable Prime Minister directed the MPs and Chairmans to distribute relief at their respective areas with their own fund, Dr. Enam told Business Mirror.
“The Prime Minister asked us to increase the list among lower middle class and middle class people. So we are estimating that the food aid recipient people will be reached by 30 million by the middle of this month.”Dr. Enam said.
The MDMR minister Dr. Enam said the government has enough stock by which it can feed entire nation six months without any hesitation.
“The country yielded a bumper Aman paddy and other crops this season. Government silos countrywide have 17 lakh tonnes of food grains…Now is the time to help each other and show humanity,” Dr, Enam added.
The Honourable premier Sheikh Hasina in a speech for the nation delivered recently assured that said low-income people will receive government assistance under the “Ghore Fera” (Returning Home) programme in their village homes because many have lost jobs due to the coronavirus.
Besides, the homeless and landless will get free housing, food for six months and some cash while programmes such as Vulnerable Group Development, Vulnerable Group Feeding and Tk10 per kg rice sales will be continued.
By the time the Prime Minister spoke to the nation, the disaster management ministry had already dispatched 500 tonnes of rice and cash between Tk5lakh and Tk10 lakh to all the district administrations.
The prime minister also said free medicine and treatment are being offered to the poor. She called on the people to refrain from stockpiling daily commodities so that limited-income groups do not suffer in the wake of a shortage in food and other necessary products in markets.
