Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Sunday demanded the government provide Tk 10,000 per month to each family of those who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, he said, “Several crore family members of those who become unemployed due to the pandemic are not in good conditions. So, it has become imperative for the government to provide Tk 10,000 per month to each of those families.”
GM Quader said the government must stand by the people who are facing serious financial crisis at this critical time of the pandemic.
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Referring to various research findings, he said the living standards of about two and a half crore people have fallen below the poverty line during the corona period where there were around three and a half crore poor people in the country before the pandemic.
The Jatiya Party chairman said the government’s allocation for helping the poor and helpless people is too inadequate.
Analysing the annual government support in an electoral constituency having 3,33,166 inhabitants, he said around 1,09,945 people (around 33 percent) of this area are poor as per the official statistics.
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“The government gave the cash assistance of TK 1,19,42,070 to the area in financial year 2020-2021. Foodgrains worth Tk 88,99,679 were distributed alongside baby food and animal fodder in the same area and the total allocation was Tk 2,10,41,749. So, the per capita allocation was Tk 191 per year and only Tk16 per month. How can a poor person live with only Tk16 per month government assistance?
The Jatiya Party chairman said the government passed a budget of around Tk 6,50,000 crore for the financial year 2021-22 in parliament, but the condition of the owners of that money is deplorable.
“So, I demand the government provide financial assistance of Tk 10,000 per month to each family (of the unemployed people) until the situation becomes normal. If the money is distributed among two crore families in a transparent manner, it will be a great help for the poor. It will cost only Tk20,000 crore per month.”