A legal notice has been served on the government asking it to prepare a list of financially vulnerable people and ensure the distribution of food and medicine to them through army and police personnel during the coronavirus pandemic.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Shihab Uddin Khan sent the notice to the secretaries of the ministries of Planning, Local Government and Rural Development, Food, Health and Family Welfare, Disaster Management and Relief, and the director general of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics on Saturday through email.
The notice said only 15% of the country’s population made more than Tk500 ($5.90) a day, according to World Bank data. This meant that a large segment of the population did not have any money left after daily expenses were met and could not have anything in reserve to handle crises like the ongoing pandemic.
Moreover, many people are out of work and their income has stopped due to the lockdown.
The legal notice also mentioned reports in the print and electronic media showing people waiting for relief and soliciting help from passersby.
It is of utmost importance that authentic data regarding the financially vulnerable be collected countrywide and necessary food supplied accordingly, Shihab said in the notice.
Rather than choosing people at random, data must be collected under the strict supervision of the appropriate authorities and people must be picked for irrespective of race, ethnicity, political belief, or gender.
The lawyer recommended that the Bangladesh Army be engaged in this task.
Data collection and list preparation are not enough; effective and adequate supply and distribution were important as well, remarked the lawyer.
He also mentioned the reported misappropriation of rice and other relief commodities by local elected representatives even in this dire situation.
The legal notice urged the respondents to take necessary action within seven days of the date of receiving the notice.
