GAIBANDHA, Oct 18, 2020 (BSS) – Rice under Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) activity is being distributed for last few days to the fishermen who are residing on the bank of the river Brahmaputra and whose families are fully dependent on catching fishes in the river.
The government imposed a 22-day ban on Hilsha catching, selling, hoarding and transporting across the country from October 14.
As the livelihood of most of the fishermen is dependent on catching fishes in the river and selling the fishes to the customers at nearby hat and bazaars, the fishermen face more trouble during the ban period for want of food.
For this reason, the government took the initiative to mitigate their hardships by distributing VGF rice to the fishermen and 5550 fishermen were selected for the rice.
Today, the VGF rice was distributed to 150 registered fishermen of Gidari union under Sadar Upazila in the district.
Deputy commissioner (DC) Abdul Matin formally distributed the rice to the fishermen at a function held on the premises of the union parishad complex as the chief guest.
Speaking on the occasion DC Abdul Matin said considering the trouble of the fishermen who catch Hilsha fish in the river, the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the welfare pogramme for them.
Talking to the BSS district fisheries officer(DFO) said, VGF rice was distributed to 1520 registered fishermen of the district in the last few days.
The rest fishermen of the district would get VGF rice very soon, the DFO said adding that many activities like operating mobile courts in hat and bazaars motivational campaign at crowded places, leaflet distribution, pasting posters at important places and conducting drives in the river were going on in full swing at the directives of the high officials of the fisheries department.
Each of the registered fishermen is getting 20 kgs of VGF rice.