Bangladesh News

Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed announced an action plan yesterday to rid the country’s northern region of Monga, a seasonal near-famine situation, through well-coordinated programmes of the government, NGOs and private sector.

“The government is paying intense attention to Monga. It’s a temporary problem — temporary unemployment problem,” he told a view-exchange meeting in Rangpur’s Gangachhara upazila on the second day of his visit to the backwater northern district.

Gangachhara is a Monga-prone area. The seasonal unemployment and food crisis usually occur during October-November period in the northern region.

Focusing on ways of eradicating Monga, Fakhruddin said a committee headed by the commerce adviser was formed at Saturday’s advisory council meeting in Rangpur that will coordinate all ongoing projects on Monga- and poverty-alleviation of the government, NGOs and other organisations.

Putting emphasis on the cultivation of diversified food and other crops, the chief adviser said undertaking income-generating projects and exporting manpower to foreign countries on a large scale from the northern region would help offset the Monga phenomenon. He stressed the need for training the overseas job seekers at various training centres and institutes in the country.

He said he has instructed the authorities concerned to ensure that the country’s technical training centres and institutes remain fully functional so that they could contribute to developing skilled manpower in the required fields.

To offset Monga, the head of the interim government also said people of the northern region could migrate to other parts of the country for employment.

Mentioning some of the steps taken for resolving the problem last year, he expressed happiness over the outcome and told his audience that early preparation in the current year would be much wider and coordinated in fighting Monga.

Mentioning the cultivation of BR-33 rice in this region last year, he urged farmers to cultivate this variety of paddy whose harvest time is comparatively short and production costs less. He also mentioned cultivation of cassava in the northern region.

On Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme, another government bid to alleviate the misery of the hardcore poor, the chief adviser said usually feeding through VGF cards does not continue during this time of the year. But considering the damage to crops and property in the floods, he said the government is continuing the programme till now.

“The objective of VGF is to bring people below poverty line under safety net so that pressures of price of rice don’t affect them.”

Commander of Muktijoddha Sangsad of the upazila M Azizul Islam, president of Gangachhara Imam Association AKM Nurunnabi Ansari, Nure Alam Sarker of Brac, president of Gangachhara press club Sazu Ahmed Lal, principal of Gangachhara Degree College Anisur Rahman, union parishad chairman Anwarul Islam, president of Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mostafa Azad Chowdhury and UNO of Gangachhara Mukesh Chandra Biswas, among others, spoke at the meeting presided over by Rangpur Deputy Commissioner Khandokar M Atiar Rahman.