RAJSHAHI, May 1, 2020 (BSS) – Around 50.20 lakh people of more than 11.34 lakh jobless and other destitute families have, so far, been brought under relief support to handle the present adverse impact of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Rajshahi division.
Humayun Kabir Khandaker, commissioner of Rajshahi division, said the beneficiary families were given 10 kilograms of rice each as a part of the government’s instant humanitarian support to mitigate the livelihood related hardship in all eight districts in the division till 8am today.
He said a total of 12,111.68 tonnes of food items have distributed among the families badly affected by the pandemic.
Another Taka 6.69 crore in cash was also distributed among 6,17,817 families for the purpose of baby food and other necessary expenses in the division. Besides, more 2,021.47 tonnes of rice and over Taka 1.28 crore in cash are in stock at present for distribution.
Meanwhile, 13,269.24 tonnes of rice has been sold among the families in need at cost of Taka 10 per kilogram while 4,682.15 tonnes remained in stock at present for distribution.
Another, 7,73,026 poor and extreme poor households were given 24,000 tonnes of rice under the government’s “Food Friendly Programme” last month. Equal numbers of families are also getting the same quantity of rice in the current month.
Besides, 4,500 tonnes of rice is being distributed among the families in need under the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Programme. Each of 1.5 lakh beneficiary families is getting 30 kilograms of rice every month free of cost.
Commissioner Humayun Kabir said various other local government bodies and non-government development entities are disbursing foodstuffs among the distressed families everywhere in the division daily to deal with the present pandemic situation.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) has disbursed 60,000 kilograms of rice among 9,172 badly affected members of 33 professional bodies in Rajshahi city to tackle the present adverse impact of the pandemic very recently.
RCC Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton said another 21,000 jobless and other low-income families were brought under the emergency food support in the city areas to minimize their hardship as a gift of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The city corporation also dispensed another 123 tonnes of rice among 12,300 hand-to-mouth families in the city from the government allocation earlier.
Apart from this, RCC has provided foodstuffs to around 45,000 daily families in need in two phases to cope with the present troubled situation.
On the other hand, 38,281 personal protective equipments (PPE) were distributed among the frontline healthcare workforces to handle the COVID-19 pandemic through protecting them from the virus infection in the division. There are 21,400 more PPEs in stock for distribution.
A total of 808 doctors and 1,512 nurses are working in 172 public and private hospitals in the division. Around 1,888 beds, out of total 4,149, were already prepared for treatment of the possible COVID-19 infected patients.
There are arrangements of 220 beds in isolation units here and 17 ambulances for the purpose of emergency transporting and treatment of the infected patients.
Meanwhile, the civil administration, armed forces and law-enforcement agencies remained active to deal with the adverse situation through enforcing the restrictive measures.