It is disappointing to learn how the government’s 40-day job scheme project fails to be efficient in serving the farmers in the northern districts of Bangladesh, seemingly every year. The annual scheme, which was launched in 2010, is meant to employ farmers for development projects in rural regions during the lean season, so that they may not succumb to the seasonal lack of income. However, according to a report by this daily, most of the labourers in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram are yet to receive their full wages, even though the allocation for these wages—over Tk 13 crore for 8,365 beneficiary labourers from Lalmonirhat and over Tk 43 crore for 27,200 beneficiary labourers from Kurigram—were made in December 2021. It is astonishing that a government project that has been running for so many years should be subject to such inefficiency on the part of government bodies such as the local union parishads and the upazila project implementation offices.
The reasoning by the authorities for this delay is twofold. First, while labourers have been paid their wages into their respective bank accounts all these years, the authorities decided to switch to an e-payment system through mobile financial services this year. But of course, as with any digitalisation initiative, government bodies are struggling to cope with this change. Second, it’s being said that local representatives faced “complexities” while preparing the list of beneficiaries, which also contributed to the delay.
The first reasoning may be justified, as many labourers failed to provide the correct mobile phone numbers for the e-payment to be deposited into, and it is, after all, a new method of payment for everyone involved to get adjusted to. However, it’s downright alarming that even the basic task of listing beneficiary labourers should be mired in inefficiency, especially since this 40-day employment scheme has been conducted for over a decade in the northern region. Even in 2017, the project could not begin on time in 15 unions of Lalmonirhat as the newly-elected union parishad chairmen demanded verification of the list of beneficiaries in their unions. And there are allegations of local politicians and their close ones being listed among the beneficiaries.
While it is appreciable that the wage for labourers under the 40-day employment scheme has been doubled this year—from Tk 200 to Tk 400—it is of no use if the money doesn’t reach them when they need it the most. Such delays every year are also inexcusable. The government must push the local authorities to make the process efficient and free from corruption.
নোয়াখালীর বেগমগঞ্জে সন্ত্রাসীদের গুলিতে বাবার কোলে থাকা ৩ বছর বয়সী শিশু জান্নাতুল ফেরদাউস নিহত হয়েছে এবং শিশুটির বাবা মাওলানা আবু জাহেরও (৩৭) গুলিবিদ্ধ হয়েছেন।
