Defalcation of relief material
While the government should be complimented for suspending 87 public representatives for allegedly misappropriating relief material meant for distribution among the very needy to scrape through the hard times caused by the pandemic, particularly when most of them belong to ruling party, one is constrained to ask whether suspending them from their present appointment is enough atonement for an action which is clearly a criminal offense. Besides misappropriation of relief goods, these people also indulged in nepotism in preparing the list for distribution of money and material.
Such activities had become apparent from the very start of the relief programme when reports of stealing and misappropriation began appearing in the media from nearly all parts of the country almost regularly. Those involved in this nefarious activity include UP chairmen, UP members—in fact 52 of the 87 are UP members—zila parishad members, municipality councillors and even an upazila parishad vice-chairman to boot!
The government had taken two very commendable steps to mitigate the plight of the poor in the rural areas to ensure food security. One is providing rice at Tk 10 per kg, and the other, setting up a hotline at national level for providing humanitarian and food assistance during this countrywide shutdown. It seems that some within the ruling party unfortunately, are doing their best to blunt the government's effort. Not only that, in one incident, a needy farmer was beaten up by an upazila chairman for seeking relief through the hotline.
One might say that this was only to be expected since, as our bitter experience shows, the distribution of relief and listing of the needy was left to the local functionaries who were all AL members. And that is like trusting one's chickens with the fox. The fate of the chicken is inevitable. In these very columns we had suggested that government's relief programmes should be strictly supervised to avoid "system loss". But apart from that, these people should be made an example of, particularly when the errant individuals happen to be public representatives who have little qualms about stealing food grains meant for the very people who have voted them into their office. Corruption is unpardonable at any time, more so when the country is passing through a crisis like this. Suspension is not enough. These people should face charges under the law, and be put behind bars, as any other citizen would be for such a crime.
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