Monga hits Kurigram with renewed force

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More than one lakh extreme poor families in Monga-prone Kurigram district have been experiencing near famine situation due to scarcity of food and employment, according to district administration officials.

Azizar Rahman Molla, deputy commissioner (DC) of Kurigram, said over cell phone on last Tuesday that among of 2,98000 poor families in the district, the govt distributed 1,88,500 Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) cards.

He said 10kg of rice had been distributed against each card in nine upazilas of the district since last August but no further sanction has been received yet for October.

“Food situation in Kurigram is better this year than the last Monga period,” Azizar Rahman added.

However, Safiqul Islam, a union parishad member of Guraguri Union Parishad in Roumari upazila of the district, said scores of poor people have been approaching him regularly for food and work. The Monga situation this year is worse than the previous year, he claimed.

District Administration sources said last year the govt distributed Tk 99,40,000 under Work for Cash project, which is known as ‘Kabikha’ project for prevention of Monga in Kurigram district. No such project has yet been taken this year.

World Food Programme (WFP) also distributed 75,000 special VGF cards to the poor people in Kurigram last year. Another foreign organisation distributed a total of 40,342 cards among the ultra poor in the district that time under a special project where each cardholder received 30kg of rice.

During the last Monga period, govt implemented 867 projects under Test Relief (TR) programme against 811MT of wheat and distributed 700MT of rice under the Food for Work project.

A total of 3,03,842 extreme poor families were provided cash and food during the last Monga period in Kurigram whereas only 1,88,500 families have been taken under the VGF cards project this year.

Around 1,10,000 extreme poor families are still out of the government relief programme this year and nearly seven lakh members from those families are the sufferers of the near famine situation, said a responsible government official.

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