As many as 200 people from the indigenous community, demanding relief assistance, laid siege to the Birganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer's office in Dinajpur on Tuesday.
The poverty-stricken people of Birganj Municipality's 9 no ward, who have been left without jobs and incomes due to the ongoing shutdown, also blocked the Dinajpur-Birganj road in front of the UNO office.
Adivasi leader Joseb Hasda, who led the demonstration, said the community had received only three to four kgs of rice and one and half kg of potatoes many days ago. Since then, they had not been given any kind of assistance from the administration.
"Many among my community will die if they do not get relief in time." said Joseb Hasda.
Regarding the allegation, Birganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer(UNO) Md Iyamin Hossain said: "I am making a list of people who have been demonstrating so that they can get relief as soon as possible."
Brahmanbaria locals demonstrate for relief assistance
Hundreds of jobless locals of Sarail upazila in Brahmanbaria have demonstrated before the Upazila Nirbahi Officer's office, demanding relief assistance.
However, speaking on the matter, Sarail Upazila Nirbahi officer ASM Md Musa denied that there had been any demonstration to demand relief. In his opinion, people demonstrated on hearing rumours that the upazila administration was distributing Tk 3,000 and one sack of rice for every individual.
The ongoing nationwide shutdown to limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus has left many lower income people across the country in a dilemma as their means of income have been cut off.
Considering the situation, the government has started distributing rice and other daily essentials to feed these people under social safety net programmes.
Nevertheless, reports of people agitating for relief in recent days suggest that many among the poor still remain without relief assistance.
Our correspondent Ujjal Chakroborty, Brahmanbaria contributed to this report.
