Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Wednesday directed the officials to expedite the procurement of paddy and rice to increase stocks at government warehouses.
At the same time, he asked to take strict action to cancel the illegal cards of the government food-friendly programme. If necessary, the food-friendly programme card will be digitised, he said.
He made the remarks while interacting with the Chittagong Division officials through a video conference from the official residence of the minister on Minto Road.
Farmers are getting bumper yields and fair prices in this boro season. The speed of government procurement of paddy should be increased, said Sadhan.
In addition, the quality of food grains should be checked and collected as per the instructions, said the minister.
He also warned of strict action against anyone committing irregularities in buying paddy and rice.
Mentioning the food-friendly programme, the minister said some allegations about the list of beneficiaries under the programme have been found to be true. Therefore, a letter was sent to the Deputy Commissioners and District Food Controllers of each district in the first week of March to send a new list of the real poor and destitute after checking and sorting them.
He instructed to prepare the list by including names of the real poor and destitute. He also directed to remove the previous tag officers and to prepare a new list by updating it.
The minister said the cards of the food-friendly programme will be digitised if necessary to curb corruption.
In a video conference, the minister discussed the coronavirus situation in details in each district under Chittagong division, current boro paddy harvesting and thrashing, and official collection of paddy and rice.
