Even bribe cannot ensure just amount of rice

Rickshaw puller Sirajul Islam took a Tk 1,500 loan to bribe local Union Parishad members to be registered with Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), a government food aid programme for the poor.
He has been receiving rice or wheat weighed between 22 kilograms or 25 kg after paying the bribe in June 2009. However, a cardholder is supposed to get 30kg of rice or wheat every month for two years under the VGD programme.
"Supply of VGD cards was limited and the chairman's men anticipated that they could not manage one for me unless I spent some money. Not only me, everybody had to pay for the cards," Sirajul, a resident of Boro Sundar village in Dakkhin Rampur union in Sadar upazila, told The Daily Star.
He said that time his income was Tk 120-130 per day, but the chairman's men did not hesitate to demand Tk 3,000 from him. After negotiations, they agreed to show 'mercy' on him and took Tk 1,500, he added.
Sirajul's case is not an isolated one in the area. Thirty out of 32 VGD cardholders surveyed in Rampur union complained of receiving rice or wheat weighed between 22 kg and 26 kg per month, says a report by Health, Education & Economic Development Organization (HEEDO), a local NGO.
Out of another 93 non-card-holders, 22 complained of not getting VGD card for their failure to bribe Tk 2,000, while the rest pointed at nepotism, the survey adds.
"There is no reason to get less rice or wheat as the government supplied it properly," said Narayan Chandra Das, project implementation officer of Chandpur Sadar.
During a field visit organised by the Management and Resource Development Initiative, it was found that corruption has tightened its grip even on rickshaw-pullers in remote villages. On the other hand, people in authority make quick bucks abusing their power and misappropriating government goods.
Though corruption has become a common phenomenon and an open secret, it can hardly be proved in court where the poor finally do not dare speaking against local chairmen. Even if they do so, their statements contradict each other under pressure by the musclemen.
"They never received as less as 25 kg of rice or wheat. There might be one or two kg less due to loss in the process of loading or unloading the food," said Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of Rampur UP.
He straightaway refused the allegations of bribery.
"Sometimes more people than the registered ones arrive at distribution place. We have to give the additional people some food which causes less in weight," he claimed.
The VGD and Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) registration and distribution are ruled by manifold corruption across the country. Wazed Ali, Aizghana UP chairman in Mirzapur in Tangail, can be a glaring example as he has recently been suspended for issuing a VGF card against a dead person.
"It is happening everywhere in the country and allegations are rife that people get four to five kg less food. We are so corrupt that we can't spare a single kg of rice from misappropriation," said Hitesh Chandra Pulok, vice-chairman of Mirzapur upazila.
Under the VGF programme, each cardholder is supposed to get at least 10 kg rice or wheat at least twice a year. However, people of the visited areas never received rice more than nine kg at a time.
It cannot be estimated how much of the 2.17 lakh tonnes of rice or wheat given among 6.21 lakh people in between July 2009 and June 2010 across the country under VGD programme was misappropriated as there is no survey done in this regard.
The Anti-Corruption Commission during the immediate past caretaker government filed numerous cases against Union Parishad chairmen across the country on charges of manipulation and misappropriation of VGD and VGF cards.
"The charges eventually could not be proved in court in most cases as the poor victims do not dare to give deposition against the chairmen," said ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman.
Sources in the Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation say at least 17 to 18 investigations were initiated during the caretaker rule following newspaper reports over corruption in the sector, but none could be proved.
During the caretaker rule the joint forces even caught a number of UP chairmen red-handed for giving less food but those too managed a safe return.
The chairmen and local leaders say they give less in weight to meet up the carrying expenditures required for taking VGD or VGF incentives from upazila godown to the areas of distribution.
The upazila relief officers say corruption cannot be checked unless rice or wheat is sent in packets of 30 kg or 10 kg intact and the government strengthens its monitoring.