Rich stealing rice meant for poor
It is indeed a good initiative meant to serve the ultra poor.
But the government scheme -- to sell rice at Tk 10 per kilogram to 50 lakh poor households across the country -- has been tainted by irregularities.
From well-off landowners to businessmen, political leaders to government officials and teachers to expatriates are among the beneficiaries of this safety net programme.
Even names of dead persons have been found on the list of people entitled to the subsidised rice.
Take Azizar Rahman of Joypurhat as an instance.
The inhabitant of Mohitur village in Akkelpur upazila owns around eight-bigha land. His two sons send him money from Saudi Arabia every month. This month, he spent around Tk 2 lakh for building a gate at his house.
This man got a fair-price food ration card from a local union parishad member and he is now purchasing rice at Tk 10 per kg.
"I didn't want any card. He [the union parishad member] gave it to me," said Azizar, whose card no is 894.
He didn't reply when asked why he received the card which is for the ultra poor.
The case of Alauddin Howlader is more interesting.
The father of two from Purbo Chakamoiya village in Kalapara of Patuakhali got a card though he owns 48-bigha land, cultivated by sharecroppers.
"I purchase rice [under the project] as I found my name on the list," he said without giving details.
But Sobhan Fakir, a landless poor in Sonamukhi union in Akkelpur upazila of Joypurhat, didn't get a card.
He went to the chairman of the union several times, but to no avail. "I got nothing," he said.
Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury, district food controller of Joypurhat, admitted that there are massive anomalies in the scheme.
Even Food Minister Qamrul Islam at a press briefing yesterday said various irregularities are taking place in the rice distribution programme.
"We want to keep the programme above all controversy. No irregularities by anyone will be tolerated no matter what his or her political affiliation is," he said.
On September 7, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated “Food-Friendly Programme” at Chilmari upazila in Kurigram.
Under the programme, selected card holders at union level will get 30kg rice every month through ration dealers at Tk 10 per kg during the lean periods of September-November and March-April.
These months have been selected considering non-availability of work for day labourers. The ultra-poor families are supposed to be listed through the local public representatives.
The government's rice procurement price is now Tk 32 per kg and it is selling the Tk 10-per-kg rice from its stock in the public granaries. For every kg of rice sold under the scheme, the government gets Tk 8.50 while dealers have their profit margin of Tk 1.50.
The government is thus providing a subsidy of Tk 23.50 for each kg of rice for the scheme.
Food officials told The Daily Star if the unscrupulous dealers or others can manage to sell rice from the scheme in the open market, they pocket a hefty amount of Tk 23,500 per tonne.
"So, strong vigilance is a necessity here and the government has to ensure it," said an official.
DEAD ON THE LIST
The authorities in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi issued a card to Attab Ali, who died four years ago.
However, his family didn't purchase the rice.
Attab's eldest son Ataur Rahman, resident of Togorpara village in Monigram union, said his father was one of the few solvent men in the village, he and his three other brothers are well-established.
The office of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) yesterday identified 15 names of dead people who are on the list of 1,000 people in Monigram union.
The UNO office also found 27 names of solvent people and relatives of local Awami League leaders who were included in the list for Monigram and 107 similar names in Gorgori union.
"Those names were cancelled immediately," UNO Hamidul Islam told The Daily Star.
Abdul Gani, the dealer for Monigram, said he got the list from the Upazila Food Controller's Office and it was prepared in 2011.
Upazila Food Controller Almas-ud Doula said the union-level committee prepared the list and the UNO's office would scrutinise it.
In Thakurgaon, Khalilur Rahman, a resident of Shalikosha village in Roypur union of Sadar upazila, was listed for the rice scheme although he died four years ago.
His wife Feroza Begum said the card is now in possession of one Samad, who is general secretary of the AL union unit.
She mentioned that her two sons work in private firms.
MORE CASES
Jamirul Islam, a teacher at MA Khaleque College in Jhenidah Sadar upazila, got a ration card and bought 30kg rice with it recently. His brother Jahidul Islam, a peon of Defolbaria Secondary School, also got the same amount of rice. Their card numbers are 925 and 927 respectively.
Locals alleged that the two from Defolbaria village got the cards as the chairman of Kumrabaria Union Parishad, Ashraful Islam, distributed many cards among solvent people.
"But many poor people are left out of the list," said an inhabitant of the village.
Imdadul Islam, a landless farmer cultivates other people's land in Bankira village, said he did not get the card.
The father of two said, "I have no land of my own. I tried several times, but my name was not put on the list.”
He added, “I also have to look after my paralysed mother."
Despite repeated attempts, Kumrabaria UP Chairman Ashraful Islam could not be contacted. His mobile phone was found switched off.
Local sources said the names of physically challenged Abdur Rashid, day labourer Taju Mondol and beggar Sobhan Mollah were not included in the list.
Asked, Deputy Commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukdar said he will take action on the basis of the allegations of anomalies in the card distribution.
Sources in the District Food Controller office said 43,679 cards have been distributed in the six upazilas of Jhenidah.
In Rajshahi, Ashraful Islam, general secretary of a ward unit of AL in Krishnapur of Mohonpur upazila, was given a card. His two brothers, three uncles, and two cousins also got cards.
In Pabna, many complained that they got half the 30kg rice allotted for them.
Momena Khatun, 40, wife of Amzad Hossain, of Durgapur village in Ekdanta union of Pabna Sadar upazila, was one of them.
She went to dealer Manik Hossain yesterday but got 15kg rice. She complained to the local union parishad member, Adam Ali, but he could not help her.
“Many complained that the dealer deprived the poor. Last month, he did not give rice to some card holders in my area saying that he didn't get sufficient rice,” said Adam Ali, a member of ward-1 of Ekdanta union of Atghoria upazila.
Manik could not be reached for comments.
A total of 148 dealers were appointed for nine upazilas of the district to sell rice to 98,000 ultra-poor people, sources said.
"But many people are not getting the due amount as the dealers sell a large chunk of the rice in black market," said an official of the food office.
The dealers were recruited on political consideration, he added.
Maen Uddin, district food controller, admitted that there are anomalies in the programme, and said they will take action if anybody complains.
In Chuadanga, over 200 people of two villages -- Batikadanga and Kalagachi -- in Titudah union, lodged complaints to the deputy commissioner on irregularities in making the list.
In Manikganj, the dealers are giving 25-28kg rice instead of 30kg in Ghoir, Shibalaya and Sadar upazilas due to lack of supervision.
The officials assigned to supervise the sale in unions are supposed to be present at the dealers' shops from 9:00am to 5:00pm on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday every week.
But many of them did not do that, alleged locals.
For example, Shariful Islam is the dealer at Borundi Bazar of Hatipara union while the supervising officer is Manikganj Sadar's agriculture extension officer, Najim Ur Rauf. But the official hardly went to the spot.
Contacted, Najim admitted this saying it was not possible for him to perform this additional duty since he is too busy with his official work.
Some other supervising officials said they have barely any role to play here as the ruling party men are involved in the programme.
[Our correspondents Kongkon Karmaker from Dinajpur, Anwar Ali from Rajshahi, Sohrab Hossain from Patuakhali, Azibor Rahman from Jhenidah, Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu from Pabna, Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat from Thakurgaon, Zahangir Shah from Manikganj, KM Rezaul Hoque from Gaibandha, and Amanur Aman from Kushtia contributed to the report]
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