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Government doing well to serve the vulnerable in Bangladesh


Published : 19 Aug 2020 09:58 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 06:21 AM

Despite hardship in overcoming the coronavirus crisis, the government continues its efforts to serve the nation with efficient management of its ministries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is regularly giving directions to various ministries and departments to continue the trend of development and keep the wheel of the economy moving. Therefore, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) also remains busy in the implementation of the Prime Minister's directives.

According to sources, officials and employees of 18 ministries, including the Prime Minister's Office, Cabinet Division, Ministry of Public Administration, Department of Health Services, Ministry of Information, Department of Local Government, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief are working together to deal with the pandemic situation. 

Apartment from their task of dealing with the ongoing development works the concerned ministries are also focusing on the vulnerable population so that they don’t slip into poverty.

Although allthe officials are not able to attend duties, however, many are working from home. In the meantime, many government officials have died of coronary disease while many others are undergoing treatment.

In the meantime, many cases of irregularities and corruptions in some ministries and department have been unearthed. Strict instructions have also been issued from the top officials of the government to take proper measures against all those who are responsible. Such crucial issues are being monitored regularly by the Prime Minister's Office. 

It is also known that directions have also been given to take care of the people who face crisis amid the corona situation by keeping the field administration dynamic. 

According to sources, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the local government department has been implementing the government's directives. 

So far, 107 government representatives have been suspended on charges of embezzlement of money and irregularities in the list of rice distribution through the Prime Minister's humanitarian and food-friendly programs. 

Among them, 35 are Union Parishad (UP) chairmen, 66 are UP members, a district council members, four are municipal councilors and a upazila vice chairman.

The PMO official sources said, the government has so far provided relief to more than 1.5 crore families across the country as humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of the common people due to coronavirus pandemic. 

Two lakh 11 thousand 17 tons of food has been allocated and one lakh 98,120 tons of food have so far been distributed. The number of beneficiary families is 1,68,30,018.

For the purpose of purchasing baby food and other items, about Tk 123 crore has been allocated in cash. Of this amount, Tk 95.83 crore has been allocated as general relief and Tk 93.92 crore has already been distributed. With this aid, the number of beneficiary families is one crore 16 thousand and 529 while the number of beneficiary people stands at four crore 42 lakh 34 thousand and 575.

As per the directives by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government recruited 2,000 new doctors and 6,000 nurses on an emergency basis to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

It should be mentioned that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a great success in the fisheries sector. The contribution of the fisheries sector to meet the nutritional needs of the growing population of the country, employment, poverty alleviation and export is increasing. About 20 million people, including 1.4 million women, are directly or indirectly dependent on the fisheries sector. 

Several secretaries from different ministries said that they are working to implement the directives of the Prime Minister to deal with coronavirus and overcome the pandemic. They remain more active in the implementation of the decisions of the government. It is known that Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Ahmed Kaikaus, Senior Secretary to the Local Government Department Helaluddin Ahmed, Public Administration Secretary Sheikh Yusuf Harun and Secretary to the Prime Minister, Tofazzal Hossain Mia are playing leading roles to implement the Prime Minister's directives.