The videoconference was aired live on state and private television channels from the prime minister's official residence Ganabhaban
Amid rice misappropriation during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the government will provide ration cards to another five million people.
“I want real unemployed people to get the facilities, whether they are supporting my party or not,” said Hasina, who is also the Awami League president.
The premier was speaking during a videoconference with representatives and officials of nine districts of Dhaka division from her official residence Ganabhaban on Thursday.
Earlier, the government provided ration cards to five million villagers to enable them to buy Open Market Sales (OMS) rice at Tk10 per kilogram.
The premier said the Food Ministry had been directed to ensure that temporarily unemployed people with ration cards received food with the help of the local administration.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) had been instructed to provide a complete list of unemployed and temporarily unemployed people, such as day labourers, who have had no work since the coronavirus outbreak.
“We have requested them to send the list within five days, so that we can start selling food as early as possible,” the minister said.
He also said already five million poor and unprivileged people across the country had been enlisted in the ministry’s food friendly program “Khaddo Bandhob Kormoshuchi,” enabling them to buy rice at Tk10 per kg.
“The new list of ration cards will include the poor and unemployed under city corporations, district and municipality areas. Previously, this facility was open only for villagers,” he added.
The minister also said the local civil administration would fix the distribution process in association with local public representatives and OMS dealers.
A card holder would be able to buy a maximum of 20kg of rice per month at Tk10 per kilo.
Sheikh Hasina had also directed her party leaders to take organizational action against public representatives – such as union parishad chairmen and members – involved in government aid mismanagement during Covid-19.
On Wednesday, the Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives Ministry suspended four UP chairmen and five members for irregularities in distribution of relief materials amid the coronavirus outbreak.
OMS to open soon
On April 13, the government had suspended OMS (Open Market Sales) for irregularities in the process of selling Tk10/kg rice to temporarily jobless people in the wake of coronavirus infections and deaths in Dhaka and other districts.
The Food Ministry made the decision after receiving allegations of irregularities and recovery of stolen rice in recent days.
On Wednesday, authorities gave the green light to dealers to open the OMS rice selling points again.
Responding to Dhaka Tribune, Dr Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, secretary of the food ministry, said: “We did not issue an office order to stop OMS selling points, but have directed the persons concerned to hold it for days until further notice. But today [Wednesday] I have given them proper guidelines on selling OMS rice. Now they will start selling as soon as they can.”
No room for rice theft
Some top brass of the government yesterday told Dhaka Tribune that stealing rice meant for the poor and government aid was an offence amounting to crime.
Although incidents of rice theft are low, with fewer than 1% of elected officials involved, the consequences are very serious, they said.
During a disaster, this type of “low profile crime” causes great damage to the ruling party’s reputation.
Mahbubul Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of the Awami League, told Dhaka Tribune: “In our party, there is no room for rice theft. The prime minister has instructed us to take legal and organizational action against those involved.”
Awami League office sources said that around 15 to 16 places in the country have faced such mismanagement in rice distribution.
The ruling party has suspended seven grassroots leaders from their party posts. They are now in custody on the basis of allegations against them.
Food ministry investigates
The Food Ministry also formed an investigation cell to take action against rice theft across the country on 13 April.
Md Mozibor Rahman, additional secretary of the food ministry and convener of the investigation committee, told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday: “We are collecting information from the grassroots level, and hopefully we can make a complete report within a short time.”
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