“Vote for the friend of the poor and hardworking people.” This is the common slogan of the politicians before election. But, once elected, they can hardly be seen beside the voters during crisis periods. During the ongoing corona pandemic and mounting human suffering, many elected MPs are not to be found in their constituencies. Though some MPs are busy distributing relief materials in their areas, others remain in the capital city to look after their personal business.
On Sunday morning, some day laborers were waiting for work like other days in Boro Bazar area of Chuadanga district. Korban Ali was one of them. When asked why was he outside his home as it is very risky to stay outside during coronavirus outbreak, Korban replied, “I know that but I have no food at home. At this moment I have no alternative to working. I need money to buy food.”
In this current situation millions of poor people like Korban Ali are in worse condition in the country. They want their MP’s beside them. Sources said an MP is getting many facilities including duty-free car facilities, vehicle fuel costs, bulk allocation of Tk 5 crore from the state. They also have the opportunity to do a lot in their personal initiative beyond government allocation.
Some of non-governmental organizations said, the number of day laborers in the country is over one crore who have no guarantee of getting work every day. A large number of them left the capital after the announcement of close down. Some organisations and rich people are distributing rice and other essentials among the poor people in the urban and rural areas.
Most business organisations have been closed since March 25 following government directives. All public and private offices have also been closed from March 26. Then the communication system was also disconnected. At the same time, the government has directed everyone not to leave their house. So people are not getting out of the house without much need. Even though the financially solvent people have stocked essential goods, however, the day laborers do not have that opportunity due to limitation of money.
Local MP and cricket star Mashrafe Bin Murtaza distributes food items among the helpless people in his area. Chuadanga-2 MP Ali Azgor Tagor told Bangladesh Post, ‘He will go to his area and distribute relief to the poor people from Tuesday. He also said, most of the people have no food crises right now. So there is no problem.’
The two MPs of Meherpur-1 & 2 are in Dhaka. Sources said, they are preparing separate lists to distribute relief, which may start within a short time. On the other hand, Saifuzaman Shekhor, MP of Maugura-2, is in his area and distributing relief. But Beren Shikder, MP of Magura-1 is in Dhaka. However, he will also start relief distribution.
There is no activity of MPs in Panchagor, Jhalukhati and Rangamati district. They are also out of their own area at this moment. However all MPs are in their respective areas and distributing relief and other essential goods to the poor people under Shirajgonj district. Three MPs of Pirojpur are in Dhaka. Of them minister of fisheries and livestock, M Rezaul Karim has distributed relief in his area. Two others MPs have no activities.
After the death of the MP in Bogura-1 (Sariyakandi-Sonatala), there was no fresh election. Shahi Suman, chairman of the two upazilas and the local Awami League leader have distributed some mask, soap, spray and rice among the poor people. Shariful Islam Jinnah, MP of Bogura-2 (Shibganj) have no activity in this crisis moment. Besides, Nurul Islam Talukder, MP of Bogura-3 (Dupchachia-Adamdighi) is also totally inactive right now. Though Mosharraf Hossain, BNP MP of Bogura-4 (Kahalu-Nandigram) is out of his area. He also distributed relief worth taka 2 lakh.
Bogra-5 (Sherpur-Dhunat) AL MP Habibar Rahman with his son AL leader Asif Iqbal is continuing help to the poor people. On the other hand, Bogura-6 (Sadar) MP Shiraj and Bogra-7 (Gabtali-Shajahanpur) MP Rezaul Karim Bablu was not found in the area. Out of the eight parliamentary seats in Tangail district, MP Shanawar Hossain, a member of the Sadar constituency, has distributed 2.5 thousand packets of relief among the poor. These include five kg rice, two kg potatoes, one kg pulses, one kg salt and soap. However, there are no such initiatives from other MPs in the district.
At present, most of the six MPs, including the mayor of the City Corporation in Barisal district, have no activities. Abul Hasanat Abdullah, MP of Barisal-1 (Gouranadi-Agailjhara) was in the area till March 25. Barisal-2 (Uzirpur-Banaripara) MP Shah Alam sent PPE to the doctors of Upazila Health Complex. No other activity was reported from him.
Golam Kibria Tipu, MP of Barisal-3 (Babuganj-Muladi) is also out of the area. His party or local people could not confirm when he was seen last in the area. Barisal-4 (Mehendiganj-Hizla) MP Pankaj Debnath is not in the area but he has instructed his people to distribute various materials including hand sanitizers.
Barisal-5 (Sadar Upazila) MP and State Minister of Water Resources Zahid Faruqe Shamim distributed sanitizer materials and masks. Nasir Jahan Ratna Amin, MP of Barisal-6 (Bakerganj), has distributed relief in the area. Among the six MPs of Dinajpur, Dinajpur-3 constituency MP Iqbalur Rahim and Dinajpur-1 constituency Manoranjan Shil Gopal distributed hand sanitizer and soap in the area.
There are 4 MPs in Kurigram districts. Of them, only M A Matin has distributed relief including 10kg rice, 1 kg pulse and 1 kg potato. Out of 6 MPs in Kisorganj, only Noor Mohammad has taken an initiative to distribute relief. However, other MPs are now out of area. There are no MPs in their constituencies in Bagerhat district. However, Sheikh Helal and Shahjahan Naser Tanmoy have distributed relief among the poor people.
Two MPs of Joypurhat distributed only some mask and hand sanitizer. Six MPs of Nawgaon district are in Dhaka right now. However, two MPs of Nawgaon-1 and 5 have distributed some relief materials. - The report was prepared with the help by Bangladesh Post’s local correspondents.