9246 beneficiaries in Lalmonirhat

The ultra poor people in five upazilas of Lalmonirhat are very happy after getting opportunity to work under the government-run 40-day job scheme.

The project, meant for providing employment facilities to the seasonal jobless poor, started in the district on Saturday.

Under the scheme, a total of 9,246 beneficiaries, of whom seventy percent are women, of 405 wards under 45 unions in five upazilas of the district have started working this year.

According to District Relief and Rehabilitation Office in Lalmonirhat, the government has sanctioned Tk 7 crore 36 lakh and 68 thousand against the wages for over nine thousand labourers this year, which was Tk 6 crore 10 lakh and eight thousand for 7,620 workers last year.

This year, over 1620 fresh beneficiaries are newly included to work under the scheme.

District Relief and Rehabilitation Office sources said each of the 9,246 beneficiaries will get Tk 200 as daily wage for working eight hours a day.

One of the labourers, Pushpa Rani, 46, of Doljor village in Aditmari upazila, said “We are getting Tk 200 as daily wage which will help us to earn up to Tk 8,000 till the end of the 40-day scheme.”

“I will spend half of my earnings for my three children's education purposes while the rest as additional support for maintaining my family,” Pushpa added.

Abdur Rahman, 48, another beneficiary under the job scheme of the village, said they generally do earth filling works on earthen roads and on the premises of different mosques, temples, graveyards and even schools and colleges.

Rahman said the earning they generate from working under the scheme help them to mitigate their poverty during the acute job crisis at this time of the year.