Grameen Bank provides relief to 815 elderly poor people in Jamalpur

Grameen Bank has provided relief materials in Jamalpur to 815 ultra-poor elderly people, mostly women, who are hit hard due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

The people, aged between 60 and 75, are enlisted as "struggling members" of the bank, according to 56 branches of Grameen Bank's Jamalpur zone, our Jamalpur correspondent reports.

"Grameen Bank has come forward to help the struggling members by providing each with 30 kg rice, 8 kg potatoes, 4 kg lentils, 4 kg onions, 2 kg salt, 2 litres of oil, 4 soap bars and Tk 600 in cash so that they can continue with this for one month," said Sirajul Islam, zone manager of Grameen Bank's Jamalpur zone.

"We started relief work on April 13 and continued till yesterday to support 815 poor elderly people," he said, adding that there are currently 1,414 struggling members in the district.

Over a decade ago, Grameen Bank enlisted 2685 vulnerable people in Jamalpur zone as struggling members, who used to beg for their livelihood, he said.

The bank took an initiative to discourage them from begging and make them self-reliant by providing loan ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 without interest, he said.

These people have been facing food crisis since early April when the district came under lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, the official added.