Misuse of VGF cards reported in monga-hit N-districts

Anwar Ali, Parbatipur

Misappropriation of relief materials by corrupt local administrations in collusion with union level ruling BNP leaders is seriously thwarting relief distribution efforts in the monga-hit areas of the north.
Even a weeklong effort by four ministers and five additional secretaries to institute a sound relief distribution has done little to check the pilferage of relief.
So far, at least 60 relief distributors including five government officials have been arrested or are facing action for misappropriation of relief, but the situation remains a far cry from being acceptable.
The starving population has often clashed with local administrators protesting the irregularities. Ministers have also been booed during their visit to monga-stricken areas.
Asadul Habib Dulu, deputy minister for disaster management and relief told newsmen in Nilphamari that 13.5 tonnes of rice has so far been distributed among the VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) cardholders in eight affected districts.
"Tk 9.55 crore has been allocated for food for work programmes to be launched soon to provide jobs to the people of the north," he said.
"A sufficient relief was allocated to control the monga, but local people have alleged that irregularities and corruption by ruling BNP men are eating up a major portion of the allocated materials," said Jamshed Mian, a schoolteacher at Haragachha in Rangpur.
Villagers at Talukposhua of Kalyani union in Rangpur said union BNP president Aftab Hossain got a VGF rice card under his mother's name; Hossain said his mother is poor and needs the rice.
On Friday, Alamgir Kabir, state minister for housing and public works affairs, caught four people including sub-assistant engineer of upazila Pubic Health Department Illias Ali for misappropriation of relief materials at Boro Beel union council of Gangachhara in Rangpur.
A case was filed against six people including UP members for giving less than the allocated amount of rice to VGF cardholders in the union.
UP chairman and BNP leader Abdul Aziz Chowdhury were exempted from the charge and authorities were forced to call riot police when people protested their exclusion from the case.
In Peerganj upazila, a group of hungry people confined Parul UP chairman in protest against irregularities and accused Ramnathpur union parishad chairman Badsha Mia of distributing VGF cards among his own relatives.
Aleya Begum, a female UP member, alleged that Badsha Mia sold 55 VGF cards on black market. Badsha has denied the allegation.
In Kaunia upazila, two Gram Sarkar members belonging to BNP -- Abdus Subhan and Azizul Haq -- were caught while taking relief with six VGF cards.
On Thursday, four persons including a food department clerk were arrested and a case was filed accusing 15 people after 24 bags of VGF rice were sold on the black market in Bhurungamari of Kurigram.
In Roumari upazila, poor people clashed with UP members leaving 15 people injured over relief distribution.
In Gaddimari union of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, fisheries officer Shamsul Alam and UP Chairman Bahar Uddin was sued for cheating while measuring out relief.
On Wednesday, Gaibandha Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) ABM Nasirul Alam and Saghata UNO Nazrul Islam were removed for relief-related anomalies. Two separate cases were filed against Chandipur UP Chairman Khorshed Alam and Ghuridaha UP Chairman Ataur Rahman after VGF rice was seized from their secret godowns.
During a visit to Borokona village in Parbatipur yesterday, this correspondent found some 150 indigenous families living on a single meal a day for nearly a month.
Maidee Hembrom said her day-labourer husband Ruben bought some rice, getting a job after three days, for Tk 20 a day.
"We can't afford a single full meal a day," said 65-year-old Malati Murmu of the village.

Waiting for the end of monga spell

Roving Correspondent, from Rangpur

The grim shadow of near-famine, locally known as monga, is likely to lengthen in Rangpur and Gaibandha for another 15 days but might fade out of six other northern districts in a week or so, officials and experts forecast.
Agriculture experts blamed the crisis partly on standing floodwaters in Rangpur and Gaibandha, where thousands of people have been living next door to starvation since early September.
Floodwaters receded from the arable land of the Himalayan uplands of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur 10 days after the flood spell set in, but stayed as long as a month in Rangpur and Gaibandha, delaying the cultivation of aman rice, agriculture expert Mohiuddin Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, deputy director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said drought in September, twinned with delayed farming and harvest, resulted in scarcity of grains.
"The harvest will begin in mid-November, which will open up job opportunities for workers," State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said at a recent press conference at Kurigram Circuit House.
He said the government initiated a Tk 300 crore project to roll back monga that sweeps farm-dependent eight districts in the north, forcing millions to live through scarcity every year.
Worse threatened as micro-credit disbursement decreased this year, said an NGO worker in Rangpur, preferring not to be named.
"Credit recipients can hardly afford payback for loans and the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) feel discouraged to dole out credit," he said.
A bleak scene unfolds in Kurigram and Rangpur every day: men, women and children living on the outermost edge of society are turning to inedible food in their frantic bid to survive.
In eight villages of Laxmitari union in Gangachhara upazila, Rangpur, many workers found themselves begging for survival, finding no alternative.
The Teesta river erosion hit seven of ten unions of Gangachhara upazila home to 2.5 lakh people, worsening the situation the destitute are living in.
Some 13,000 people on 27 shoals in and around the upazila were left with almost nothing to live on.
Gangachhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fazlul Haq said 12,000 VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards were distributed among monga-affected people.