BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Sunday alleged that the government largely ignored the poor and unemployed people amid the pandemic by not giving necessary allocation and announcing incentive packages for them in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

“The government has reduced the corporate tax in the proposed budget from which only 20 leading profitable companies will get the benefit of Tk 146 crore. Other companies will also enjoy the same benefit,” he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said, “But there’s no allocation and incentive package for lakhs of people who became unemployed and poor due to the coronavirus. Many industries and business institutions in the informal sector have been shut down. But there’s nothing for them in the budget.”

He said many hawkers, and workers of transport, launch, rickshaw-pullers, day-lobourers and hotel workers have become jobless while 2.5 crore people turned poor newly. “But the government has not given any incentive for them.”

Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club, marking BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s 40th death anniversary.

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Nazrul, a BNP standing committee members, demanded the government announce a monthly allowance for the working people who have become unemployed due to the Covid outbreak.

“It’s high time to introduce allowances for the unemployed people. We must protect them and provide them food at a fair price or under a rationing system. There’re now lakhs of both educated and uneducated jobless people in the country. We’ve to let them live with dignity,” he added.

The BNP leader recalled the contributions of Ziaur Rahman to the country’s Liberation War and its development and urged the party leaders and activists to take a lesson from his life.

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He also called upon them to get united to restore democracy and people’s lost rights through a movement.