Farmers besiege bank to protest 'subsidy scam'
Farmers of Haimchar upazila under Chandpur district demonstrate and besiege the Krishi Bank upazila branch yesterday protesting alleged irregularities in disbursement of agricultural subsidy by the bank staff. Photo: STAR
Farmers laid a siege to Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) Haimchar upazila branch in Chandpur yesterday protesting alleged irregularities in disbursement of agricultural subsidy. A large number of farmers besieged the bank for two hours from 10:00 am and staged protest against taking Tk 100 as bribe by the bank staff during the opening of account and Tk 100 at the time of distribution of subsidy. They also alleged that the bank staff harassed them by not disbursing subsidy despite announcing several dates for the purpose. Later police went to the spot and brought the situation under control. Agitating farmers Mosharraf, Ferdaus, Jahangir, Harun, Soleman, Khokan, Alamgir and Sekandar of Dakkhin Algi, Kamlapur and Bhingulia areas of the upazila alleged that they had to give Tk 100 per head as bribe for opening account. They said the bank staff set four to five dates for distributing the subsidy but did not give money to them. The farmers said they were to get Tk 800 as diesel subsidy but they had to suffer loss of Tk 600 for coming to the bank on four days stopping their work. Even after that the bank staff were deducting Tk 200 from subsidy of each of the farmers, they alleged. Officer-in-charge of Haimchar Police Station Md Helal Uddin said police have been deployed in front of the bank to avert any untoward incident.
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