An amendment to the list of poor people for getting cash aid from the government through mobile financial services is going on, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman has said, as per a local daily report.
On May 14, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the disbursement of Tk 1,250 crore in cash assistance for five million poor families hit hard by the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown. Each family will get Tk 2,500. But the initiative has been marred with irregularities. In Habiganj, same mobile number was used beside the name of 200 people. Different media outlets reported on it fearing of corruption. A wave of criticism was also seen on social media.
The State Minister for Relief further stated as per the report that all the people did not provide their mobile numbers. Without any mobile number the software was not accepting data submission. That is why, officials submitted same mobile number for different people in different areas. They have done this for the sake of the recipients. There is no link with corruption in this regard.
It is mysterious as to why the local officials were submitting the same mobile number for people of different localities. According to BTRC there are over 165 million mobile phone users in Bangladesh in December 2019. Considering that there are only 45 million households it stands to reason that almost every household head has a mobile phone.
So it is difficult to believe that the ultra poor in Bangladesh dont have a mobile phone. Rather than duplicating users multiple times by giving just one number the authorities should have rather ensured that every recipient of electronic cash should have opened a Bkash or other mobile financial payment account to ensure simple honesty and transparency was being followed.
We have talked about this in our editorials in the past where we have stated that the main scope or avenue of corruption would lie with the lists for the distressed which were being prepared with the local politicised administration. And time and again we have been proven right. The list should be published for public knowledge and transparency.
