DHAKA, May 18, 2020 (BSS) – Slamming BNP leaders for their continuous lies on coronavirus situation, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today dubbed their (BNP leaders) continuous lying as a criminal offense.
“The way BNP leaders, particularly its joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, are deliberately making falsehood is considered to be a criminal offense,” he told a press briefing at his secretariat office here.
Hasan, also the Awami League joint general secretary, said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi is talking like a drug addict. “I hope he (Rizvi) will shun the politics of falsehood and stop lying in the holy month of Ramadan,” he added.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is carrying out the largest relief programme in the country’s history to protect the lives of people amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Noting that none dies for want of food in the country amid the coronavirus crisis, Hasan said the government has already brought over six crore people under the relief and social protection schemes to this end.
In addition to this, he said, Awami League distributed relief among about one crore poor and destitute people in the country and they were very happy about the AL’s relief activities.
But, the AL joint general secretary said, BNP are holding photo sessions in the name of relief distribution among only 200 to 300 people in Dhaka and its adjacent areas – Keranigang and Narayanganj – and continuously delivering poisonous statements against the government.
But the reality is that BNP is very frustrated as the government is properly dealing with the ongoing coronavirus crisis, he added.
Highlighting the global COVID-19 scenario, Hasan said when the coronavirus pandemic began, there were shortage of food and other essential items in supermarkets of European countries and the USA.
People had to stand in long queues there for hours to buy products and many of them did not able to buy essential commodities in many supermarkets, he added.
At the beginning of the crisis, the information minister said, there were shortage of masks in the European countries and the USA, and even people staged demonstration in front of White House and other places in the USA demanding personal protective equipment (PPE).
“But, such situation is not created in our markets. There is no shortage of masks here. The health division (government) has distributed thousands of PPEs and there are several lakhs of PPEs in store,” he said.
Claiming that reliefs are being distributed in a transparent manner, Hasan said as per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, relief goods and cash assistance are being distributed among the people irrespective of their political views and thoughts.
Only 55 local government representatives out of total 64,000 were found involved in corruption in relief distribution, he said. He said the corrupt local government representatives were identified as the government has taken zero tolerance policy against the corruption in relief distribution.
“The administration has identified them, and police and ministries of the government are taking actions against the corrupt people,” the information minister said.
He said the government is providing Taka 2,500 in cash each for 50 lakh families and there is no way to create confusion about the cash assistance programme.
After a three-tier scrutiny of information, the cash money is directly being sent to receivers, Hasan added.