The New Nation - Internet Edition

A.T.M.Nurun Nabi

It is now being said that the country has suffered an economic losses of taka 1.8 billion (12,000 crore) in the 11/15 hurricane and it will take a long time to rebuild the devastated infrastructure. The concerned ministry has given a statistics as saying that the crops of 4,61,819 acres of land were damaged fully while that of 13,27,399 acres of land partially, from which it reveals that the food output will sure be short of target by about 12 lakh metric tonnes. Earlier the country's northern districts experienced back-to-back floods in August and since then the country has been bearing the burden of huge losses. In that floods, crops of about 11 lakh hectares of land were either fully or partially damaged. Thus in two natural calamities within a span of four months will verily slow down the economic progress.

Those who died in the hurricane are beyond all necessities but those who survived need immediate food assistance and pure drinking water before a third calamity stalks at the door. If it is taken that at least five lakh people out of two million are badly in need of food and water, it is really a gigantic task on the part of the government to supply. To tackle the worsening situation, the co-operation of all the political parties and the socio-cultural organisations and the business community is must. It is wrong to insist on withdrawal of emergency because humanitarian assistance has no link to it. Gesture and good will can save lives of thousands of hungry people. The Prophet Muhammad (SM) said: Feed the hunger, release the (innocent) prisoners and attend the sick. The order is applicable to both the governor and the governed, particularly the rich.

So, none should attach pre-condition to stand by the hunger and the homeless.

Meanwhile, the government has announced an amount of taka 130 crore will be disbursed to the fishermen, the farmers and the micro-businessmen as loan. But this is not enough. The loan amount must reach the genuine hands, and not to the fake ones. It is not yet known whether the loan so announced would be disbursed against equitable mortgage or on easier terms.

In this regard, there is a suggestion from experts that the marginal and the sharecroppers who have no land, the government should ensure availability of loan by them, otherwise both the agricultural output and the fish production will be hampered. In default, if they take loan from the moneylenders on high rate of interest, a very little portion of the products will be theirs after repayment of loan amount.