They also demanded fair distribution of resources to improve the living standard of about 30 million chronically poor people who are suffering from hunger and under-nutrition.

If benefits of growth at national level cannot be equally distributed among the people the poverty situation will remain unchanged, the speakers observed. They were speaking on the concluding day of two-day seminar on "State of the Poorest in Bangladesh 2004/05", organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in Dhaka.

Adviser to the former caretaker government Hafizuddin Khan expressed dissatisfaction over the government's reluctance to implement recommendations of different national committee reports on public sector reforms.

"The latest report of the Public Expenditure Review Commission (Perc) has also been shelved. I am sure none in the government even reads the recommendations of the report," said Hafizuddin who was chief of the Perc.

Senior research fellow of BIDS Binayak Sen said poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) will only ensure five percent aid flow for poverty alleviation purposes and rest of the huge chunk of money will go to growth related sectors.

"We must be reliant on domestic resources," Sen said, pointing out resource is the main constraint for the chronic poor of the country.

He said, "Measures such as distribution of vulnerable group feeding (VGF) cards and test relief cannot alleviate poverty. Specific long term programme is necessary to improve the living standard of the chronically poor."

Sen, however, was pleased with improvement in poverty situation in recent times as Bangladesh had elevated to the category of Medium Development Country in a report of the UNDP last year.

Former chairman of Public Service Commission (PSC) Al Husaini while taking part in the discussion criticised the PRSP and said the document only highlighted our problems without giving guidelines on solution.

Among others, Quazi Shahabuddin, director general of BIDS, Angela Gomez of Bachte Shekha, Tauhidul Alam of UNFPA and AHM Nouman of DORP addressed the dialogue.