UP member gets govt allowance for the poor!

 A union parishad member in Saidpur upazila of Nilphamari is enjoying a government allowance meant for the elderly poor people.

The allowance is given under the government's social safety net for the aged poor.

Strangely, the UP member justifies getting the benefit saying he is old and there is no certainty that he will be re-elected in the next polls.

Ataur Rahman, member of Kamarpukur Union Parishad from Ward-9, simultaneously gets government remuneration as a UP member and the allowance in gross violation of rules.

He got himself listed for the allowance when the social welfare department conducted a survey a few months ago to select those eligible for it. His card number for the benefit is 1,414 and his bank account number is 1,168.

Ataur himself a member of the union committee empowered to finalise the primary list of the allowance recipients. The UP chairman concerned and the union activist of social welfare department are its president and secretary respectively.

Recently, locals lodged a complaint with the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Saidpur and urged him to replace Ataur with an eligible beneficiary.

Contacted, Ataur admitted all this and said because of "his old age", he is eligible to get the allowance. He is 65.

He further said since there is no guarantee that he will be re-elected in the next polls, he included his name in the "elderly allowance recipients' list to get lifelong benefit.

Asked about this, Md Mosharaf Hossain, deputy director of District Social Welfare Department, said in no way the UP member could be a recipient of the allowance as he is getting remuneration from the government.

"We have issued show cause notice to our activist in Kamarpukur union and we are going to cancel the controversial name from the list," he added.

Saidpur UNO Md Nasim told this correspondent that necessary action would be taken against those found responsible for this "irregularity".