5.7 lakh families get VGF cards in five northern districts
Programme started earlier this year due to flood, high price of rice
About 5.7 lakh hardcore poor families in five monga prone districts of greater Rangpur have been brought under VGF (vulnerable group feeding) programme.
Distribution of free rice has been started in Rangpur, Gaibadha, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts under the supervision of army to ensure food security as employment is scarce in the areas now, officials said.
Each of the 5.70 lakh VGF cardholder gets 15 kilograms of rice per month. The program will continue for five months till May.
Sources at district relief offices said usually such free rice is distributed in monga (a pre-harvest period when employment for day labourers is scarce) period during August-December.
This year, the program has been started earlier (from January) to benefit the poor because of loss of crops in floods and high prices of food, they said.
The VGF programme in the five districts will need 8,550 tonnes of rice a month.
In Rangpur agriculture region comprising of eight northern districts, Amon yield this year was 2,08,432 tonnes less than that of last year. It was 22,01787 tonnes this year against last year's 24,10,219 tonnes, agriculture officials said. This deficit in the region and other areas of the country pushed rice prices higher.
Sources said, 1.70 lakh VGF cards have been distributed in Rangpur, 1.40 lakh in Gaibandha, one lakh in Nilphamari, One lakh in Kurigram and 70,000 in Lalmonirhat.
To make the program successful, upazila administrations arranged view exchange meetings with Union Parishad chairmen and members.
Meanwhile, chairman of Mithapukur Union Parishad and a UP member of Nilphamari Sadar upazila have been arrested recently for alleged irregularities in distribution of VGF rice.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments