Over 27.23 lakh jobless and other hard hit families comprising around 1.23 crore people have, so far, received government relief aid to mitigate their livelihood related hardships caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Rajshahi division.
As part of its humanitarian support to cope with the present COVID-19 situation, the government disbursed 21,173 tonnes of rice and Taka 12.88 crore till Saturday morning, said Humayun Kabir Khandaker, Divisional Commissioner of Rajshahi.
He said 18,05,860 families were given 10 kilograms of rice each while another 9,18,070 families got Taka 1,000 each for baby food purposes and necessary other expenses in all eight districts of the division.
A total of 2,759 tonnes of rice and over TK 1.98 crore in cash are in the stock at present for distribution in line with the government’s efforts to reach foodstuffs among all hard hit people.
Raihanul Kabir, Regional Controller of food, said 5,081.93 tonnes of rice and 12,449.44 tonnes of flour have been distributed at TK 10 and TK 18 per kilogram respectively among the families under the government’s open market sale (OMS) programme in the division till Friday last.
Besides, 1,38,858.02 tonnes of rice were distributed among 7,73,026 enlisted poor and extreme poor households under the government’s “Food Friendly Programme” till the same day.
Another 4,500 tonnes of rice are also being distributed among the needy families under the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme, Raihanul Kabir said, adding that each of 1.5 lakh beneficiary families are getting 30 kilograms of rice every month free of cost.
Rajshahi Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton said 26,782 members of 118 deserving organizations were given 148 tonnes of rice as the gift of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to lessen their livelihood sufferings.
7,400 households were also given foodstuffs as part of the government’s instant humanitarian support to relieve the livelihood related hardship.
Apart from this, the city corporation has so far, disbursed 378 tonnes of rice, five tonnes of flour, 64 tonnes of pulse, 67 tonnes of potato, 2,000 packets of baby food, 350 tonnes of seasonal vegetables and 3,950 packets of cooked foods benefiting around 1.40 lakh jobless and distressed families in the city.
Various other government and non-government entities are distributing foodstuffs among the hard hit families to cope with the present crisis.
Meanwhile, 72,078 personal protective equipment (PPE) have so far been distributed among the frontline healthcare workforces to handle the COVID-19 pandemic through protecting themselves from the virus infection. There are 42,413 more PPE in stock for distribution.
A total of 935 doctors and 1,669 nurses are working in 190 public and private hospitals in the division. Around 1,914 beds, out of the total 4,899, have already been prepared for treatment of the possible COVID-19 infected patients.
There are arrangements of 462 beds in isolation units here and 19 ambulances for emergency transportation for treatment of the infected patients.
