Editorial
Stealing from the poor with impunity
Crack down on corruption at UPs
The grasping hands of corruption do not spare even the ultra-poor in this country. What has been happening in Rampur union of Chandpur district is but a small hint of how things have been going where the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) and Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programmes are concerned. The poor rickshaw puller Sirajul Islam is not the only victim of corruption here. He has had to cough up Tk. 1,500 for the UP (it had earlier demanded Tk.3,000 but then decided to be 'merciful' to him by agreeing to half the amount) in order to come by a VGF card. If the record is anything to go by, such sinister dealings on the part of union parishad chairmen and members are rampant --- and not just in Rampur.
The Health, Education and Economic Development Organisation (HEEDO) has done a most creditable job of bringing VGD and VGF-related corruption to light in Rampur. We believe the findings of the HEEDO survey ought to be a spur to vigorous action on the part of the authorities against corrupt elements not just in Rampur Union but elsewhere in the country as well. Sirajul Islam and others like him have been getting no more than 25 or 26 kilograms of rice or wheat in place of the mandatory 30 kilograms. The survey reveals it all: as many as 30 individuals out of 32 have alleged that they have been getting between 22 and 26 kilograms of rice. It is not hard to see where the missing portions go. Add to that the money-spinning machine the VGD programme has turned into at the hands of the Rampur union parishad. As many as 22 of 93 individuals surveyed have said they could not get VGF cards because they could not come up with the bribe money demanded of them. The chairman of the UP has, of course, in typical fashion denied the allegations. There is no reason to believe him because of one simple reason: the poor do not lie.
The last caretaker government went for some meaningful action against corrupt union parishads. It is time to take a fresh, hard look at how UPs all over the country are functioning, particularly in the matter of VGF cards. There are project implementation officers attached to the VGD and VGF programmes. To what extent they can supervise these programmes effectively and how much manpower they have to oversee a proper distribution of rice and wheat to the poor is a matter which calls for immediate and purposeful handling. The suggestion has been made that the required quantities of rice and wheat be given to the poor in packets so that no underhand tricks can be employed by anyone. It is a good suggestion and the authorities should be working on it.
Meanwhile, let an inquiry be initiated into the allegations against the Rampur union parishad. The guilty ones and their henchmen must face the music for the scandal they have caused.
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