It’s not people, it’s you

The failure, mismanagement and corruption of the government were more responsible than people's indifference to maintain safety protocol in transmission of coronavirus in the country, said Workers Party of Bangladesh yesterday.

The left-leaning WPB, also a partner in the ruling alliance, in a statement said the ministers are not shouldering any responsibility and blaming people for the current coronavirus situation.

WPB politburo expressed concerns over the increasing infection and death rates, unavailability of hospital bed, oxygen and ICU services in the country.

It also expressed concerns over little to no assistance for people who live from hand to mouth, the working class and the urban poor.

"No one is talking about what steps would be taken in favour of those who live from hand to mouth as a stricter lockdown is going to be enforced from April 14," said the statement.

According to media reports, last year, Tk 1,050 crore was allocated to give assistance to the poor but Tk 912 crore reached to the beneficiaries and rest of the money is at the hand of a mobile banking institution, it said.

On the other hand, only Tk 5 crore was disbursed from a fund of Tk 1,500 crore package to help workers. City corporations and union councils were asked to prepare a list of beneficiaries. But the power of scrutiny was in the hand of bureaucrats, said the statement.

"The prime minister-pledged money did not reach the distressed due to red tape and bureaucratic failure. They show accounts that exist only on papers," the statement added.

The party proposed that people's representatives should play a vital role during the pandemic.

It proposed for giving responsibilities to people's representatives to make the "lockdown effective" and allocation of Tk 3,000 crore more for workers and poor people besides the unspent money allocated earlier.

The party also proposed to ensure accountabilities of the organisation that is failing to provide Covid-19 vaccines in due time and explore an alternative source of vaccine and lower the vaccination age to 18 years.

The government should take responsibilities of treatment and health services of people, it added.