As the nation battles against the much-feared coronavirus pandemic, the government has attached utmost importance to lives and livelihood of the people, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said here today.
He said the Sheikh Hasina led government has taken various steps as soon as the Corona virus appeared in the country.
The information minister was briefing the journalists at local Circuit House this afternoon after presiding over a meeting of Co-ordination of Relief and Other Issues to tackle the situation triggered by Covid-19.
Dr Hasan said that the government led by Bangabandhu�s daughter Sheikh Hasina has distributed one crore ration cards covering five crore people that make up one-third of the country�s population.
Fifty lakh families will be given rice for seven months in a year at a cost of Tk. 10 per kilo while another half a million cards will be given to the needy, said Hasan, also joint general secretary of Awami League.
Besides this, he said, elderly allowance, widow allowance, allowance for women left by husbands, maternity allowance and disabled allowance and 144 other government programs have been continuing under the social safety net.
�There are a storage of 1.7 million metric tons of food in government godowns while a total of one lakh metric tons of food has already been distributed among destitute people.Another six lakh metric tons of food grains will be distributed among the people hit hard financially over corona situation,� he added.
Conducted by senior secretary Mostafa Kamal Uddin, who is discharging duties as convenor of Coordination of Relief and Other Issues in Chattogram district, the meeting was attended by Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Jabed, AL presidium Member Engineer Mosharraf Hossain MP, Deputy Minister for Education Barrister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel MP, officials of divisional and district administrations and senior officials of health departments.
The information minister said �We are still in a better position than many developed countries in the world regarding coronavirus.
The government has taken a lot of preparations for facing any future situation. We have also planned as to what to do in case of worsening corona situation in the country. Today�s meeting was held as part of this.�
The information minister said the situation in Chattogram district is still better than the Dhaka region.
�In today�s meeting we discussed how to treat the corona patients separately, how to treat more patients in future and how to provide health care to those who are well,� the information minister added.
Replying to the questions of journalists, Hasan said that not a single person died in Bangladesh without food though almost all activities remained halted for the last one month.
He made it clear that the government has no such decision of giving treatment to VIPs separately.
�I have come to know that some online portals have carried a few news items regarding separate treatment arrangement for VIPs. The news have been released without verifying the information and such news expose the lack of accuracy and accountability in reporting,� he said.
Terming the reports as irresponsible, he hoped that all should do responsible journalism in this tragic corona situation in the country.