Rice and cash have been distributed as the prime minister’s humanitarian aid among affected farmers in Sunamganj’s Jamalganj upazila. The aid was given to listed farmers of six unions, including Sachna Bazar and Fenarbank. At an event at the Sachna Bazar union council grounds, affected farmers were handed 15 kg of rice, 3,000 taka in cash and an aid card; according to the union council, 750 farmers hit by crop loss from waterlogging were brought under the programme.
Present at the distribution were Sachna Bazar union council chairman Masuk Mia Talukder, sub-assistant agriculture officer Niloy Chandra Kar, union administrative officer Gunendra Kumar Talukder, verification-committee BNP member Hasan Talukder, Osman Goni and Nuruddin, along with council members, local notables and beneficiaries. At Fenarbank union council, humanitarian aid was distributed by UP chairman Kajal Chandra Talukder and upazila BNP leaders Fazlul Kader Chowdhury Toufiq and Zulfikar Chowdhury Rana, with local BNP leaders Mozammel Hossain Chowdhury and Rabbi Talukder present.
Farmer Nurul Islam said his six kiyar of land had been submerged by waterlogging and he could not harvest the paddy, and that the aid brought some relief. Sixty-five-year-old farmer Rahim Uddin said he had farmed with great effort but suffered a big loss as his land was submerged, and that the aid gave some hope. Farmer Rani Debi said she had been anxious for her family after losing the crop, and that the rice and cash helped. Chairman Masuk Mia Talukder said haor people face some natural disaster every year, and that excessive rain and waterlogging had caused heavy losses this time, but that the number of affected farmers far exceeded the allocation: 2,750 applications were submitted in the union, and a list of 1,500 farmers was prepared, but the ministry covered only 750, so many genuinely affected farmers were left out. He apologised sincerely to them, saying more farmers would be brought under aid if the allocation increased.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report