THE government relief operation in flood-hit haors where people have lost Boro crops in the field and livestock to become utterly helpless, seems to be quite inadequate and we believe it must be upward revised. Its relief scheme for 100 days to cover around 3.3 lakh poor families is quite ill-planned given the scale of devastation and under-estimation of the number of extreme poor. The families will reportedly get 30kg rice and Tk 500 per month until July 31. The paltry sum of Tk 500 not only speaks of being too little, but obviously raises the question – how was the amount being fixed and by following what parameters ?
Moreover, how a family of several members will survive on a kg of rice in a single day and its ratio with the cash money of less than Tk 17 per day is highly inappropriate. The two relief items clearly do not complement each other, not to speak how it will fulfil the needs of an affected family. The government says other can buy rice at Tk 15 per kg but when people have no cash how they will buy is the big question.
We expect the government to fix commodity and cash relief supports in tune with families needs. We must say there can’t be any backlash to support people who grow food for the nation — money or food stock can’t be an issue anyway. The government plans to distribute 35,000 tonnes of rice and Tk 50 crore. We must say the amount can be doubled to serve a good cause than wasting money round the year in big corruptions.
We suggest the concerned authorities must conduct more field-level surveys, in order to identify what are the most urgent requirements of people at remote areas. They need not only food and cash; they need total rehabilitation at many places including post flood health care, rebuilding schools and support with agricultural inputs to grow food where it is possible. The concerned authorities said the government would provide assistance to the poor under social safety net programme to feed vulnerable groups. But we must say they should have long term programme beyond 100 days as many will remain in abject poverty until the next Boro harvest during this time next year.
Moreover we draw the attention of the concerned authorities that they should ensure fair and proper distribution of relief materials through its local channels. There should not be any misuse and none should be left out for political reasons or otherwise. It’s very important, since barely four days into the occurrence of flash floods there were complaints of selling subsidized food grains at shops in Sunamganj; which is one of the worst flood-hit areas. We don’t want to see the repeat of stealing of relief goods or selling it in black markets. There must be strong vigilance on it.
Moreover, how a family of several members will survive on a kg of rice in a single day and its ratio with the cash money of less than Tk 17 per day is highly inappropriate. The two relief items clearly do not complement each other, not to speak how it will fulfil the needs of an affected family. The government says other can buy rice at Tk 15 per kg but when people have no cash how they will buy is the big question.
We expect the government to fix commodity and cash relief supports in tune with families needs. We must say there can’t be any backlash to support people who grow food for the nation — money or food stock can’t be an issue anyway. The government plans to distribute 35,000 tonnes of rice and Tk 50 crore. We must say the amount can be doubled to serve a good cause than wasting money round the year in big corruptions.
We suggest the concerned authorities must conduct more field-level surveys, in order to identify what are the most urgent requirements of people at remote areas. They need not only food and cash; they need total rehabilitation at many places including post flood health care, rebuilding schools and support with agricultural inputs to grow food where it is possible. The concerned authorities said the government would provide assistance to the poor under social safety net programme to feed vulnerable groups. But we must say they should have long term programme beyond 100 days as many will remain in abject poverty until the next Boro harvest during this time next year.
Moreover we draw the attention of the concerned authorities that they should ensure fair and proper distribution of relief materials through its local channels. There should not be any misuse and none should be left out for political reasons or otherwise. It’s very important, since barely four days into the occurrence of flash floods there were complaints of selling subsidized food grains at shops in Sunamganj; which is one of the worst flood-hit areas. We don’t want to see the repeat of stealing of relief goods or selling it in black markets. There must be strong vigilance on it.
