Staff Reporter :
The Cabinet Division has asked the concerned Ministries to submit reports pertaining to financial loss incurred by flashflood that destroyed almost all crops in the country’s six haor districts recently.
Ministries of Agriculture, Disaster Management and Relief, Health and Family Welfare, Fisheries and Livestock, Environment and Forests, and Water Resources have been asked to submit reports by this week, according to Cabinet Division sources. Besides, the concerned Ministries have also been asked to become very cautious in distributing relief goods among the affected people. The Cabinet Division and the Finance Ministry are overseeing the overall activities, they said.
Heavy downpour and flash-flood have destroyed paddies, killed fishes and ruined duck farms in six haor districts — Sunamganj, Habiganj, Kishoreganj, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaria and Netrokona.
Meanwhile, Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) Chairperson Sultana Kamal, now visiting flood-affected areas of Tahirpur upazila in Sunamganj district on Tuesday demanded exemplary punishment for the persons who were responsible for protecting the embankments.
“We all will have to stand beside the haor people. The government will have to ensure trial of corrupts responsible for such disaster. No corrupt will be spared,” she said while addressing a farmers’ rally in Tahirpur upazila headquarters yesterday.
Sultana Kamal also demanded to declare the region as disaster prone area, saying corrupts must be brought to the act and ensure financial support to victims’ families.
In the meantime, the government has so far allocated Taka 272 crore for the flood-affected people in the haor districts.
“Relief goods worth Taka 272.26 crore will be distributed among the flood-hit haor people till next July. Besides, 80 percent of the district-wise allocations have already been distributed by Tuesday (May 8),” said Md Riaz Ahmed, Director General of the Department of Disaster Management.
The government also earmarked Taka 82.07 crore for generating employment for some 91,447 extreme poor under different employment generation programmes, he said.
About 8 to 9 lakh families have been devastated by floods in 62 upazilas under six haor districts. So far, a total of 587 relief distribution centres have been opened at the Union and Ward levels for smooth distribution of the relief materials in the affected areas.
Under the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), the government has allocated 32,340 tons of rice and Taka 49.50 crore as cash which would be distributed among 3.80 lakh flood-affected farmers and fishermen in the six haor districts.
The VGF will continue till the next harvest, officials said.
The government has formed a 24-member committee headed by the Additional Secretary of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry, according to the decision of a meeting held on April 23.
The committee has been asked to identify the causes of early flood and make recommendations on future tasks. The committee has already started its activities.
Apart from this, two flood control rooms have been set up at the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry for exchanging information round-the-clock between the centre and the field level administration.
Fulltime relief control rooms have also been opened at the offices of the Deputy Commissioners and the Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) in the affected regions, officials said.
An inter-Ministry proposal with short, medium and long term programmes has been submitted to the Prime Minister for her consideration for quick recovery of the flood-affected haor people.
The proposals include exemption of interest on credits disbursed by NGOs and keeping repayment of capitals postponed for one year, repayment of farm loan under installments, exemption of electricity bills, taking agriculture rehab programes, 100 percent stipend for students, exemption of tuition fees for a year, creating employment for women, construction of embankments and innovation of short duration paddy for the flood-prone haor areas.
