“The people strongly believe that this project was undertaken to fatten Awami League's local leaders, after all the corruption, cheating and looting by their ministers, MPs and bigshots,” BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Thursday in a statement.
The media had already revealed the massive corruption surrounding the Tk10 per kg rice programme, Rizvi said.
“Poor people around the nation are faced with the persecution of the ruling party men when they try to obtain this rice,” Rizvi said.
He alleged that ruling party cadres were being appointed dealers of the rice programme, thus helping wealthy Awami League leaders get the rice.
Rizvi dismissed the government's action against corruption in the programme, saying: “Only a handful of their leaders were held when the news of corruption spread too widely.”
He condemned this “mockery of people's hunger” and called on the government to “stop the drama.”
The Tk10 per kg rice programme, launched by the government targeting 5 million poor families, has been dogged by allegations of corruption since its launch in September.
The government has cancelled the licenses of at least two dozen dealers and jailed some of them across the country over irregularities.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
