There has been a massive complaint of irregularities in the distribution of cattle among the fishermen under the Hilsa resource development and marketing project in Kushtia’s Daulatpur Upazila.
According to source, l, cows and calves were distributed among 17 poor fishermen in the first phase and 8 in the second phase in 3 unions of Ramkrishnapur, Chilmari and Philipnagar on March 9 and May 3 among the 14 unions of the upazila.
Complaints have been made that 25 fishermen got cows in the ledger, but in reality, many did not get the allocated cows. Several fishermen have complained against the upazila fisheries officer and the union chairman, saying that even though they were named in the government list for allocation, they did not get the cow, and two cows were allocated in the name of the same person. Fishermen also said that many got cows without being fishermen due to being a confidant of the Indian chairman.
According to the Daulatpur Fisheries Office sources, to increase the reproduction, growth and production of hilsa, the ban on fishing in the hilsa sanctuary in Padma River in Daulatpur is in force from March 1 to April 30. The number of fishermen registered in the upazila is more than 1,300. During this time, the government gives rice as an incentive to each fisherman's family. Because of the lack of alternative employment opportunities for fishermen, they resorted to hilsa hunting in the river. As an alternative measure to deal with this situation, the Fisheries Department has taken up the program of free distribution of weanling calves among the fishermen. Under this initiative, Upazila Fisheries Department has calved 17 cows worth 25 thousand taka in the first phase and 8 cows worth 28 thousand taka each in the second phase.
Many fishermen who did not want to be named said that they are not getting allocations. Md. Mahan Sardar, Md. Yachin Ali, Md. Zainul Mandal of Bairagi Char got cows by virtue of being the chairman's honour despite not being a fisherman. Again, the name of Md Sakub Mondal, the fisherman of Bairagi Char, is in two places on the list.
When asked about this matter, Philipnagar union chairman, Moinuddin Sentu, said that although he was verbally informed about the donation of fishermen, he was not informed about giving cows to fishermen and he did not give any list of names of fishermen at the union level.
When asked about the irregularities, he said that the officer is lying, he also said that the officer has committed such irregularities by taking money.
Upazila Fisheries Officer Hussain Mohammad Swapan said that when the chairmen were informed about this, they gave the list of names of the fishermen signed by them, after checking NID, they were given the cow's calf.
He said that those who have NID problems were not given cows. When asked about the irregularities, he said there was no irregularity in the distribution of government grant cows among the fishermen. We have carefully selected and distributed the calf between 25 fishers in two batches. The allegations made by the chairman against me are completely false.