PM Hasina announces food aid for flood victims until next harvest

Victims of this year's second flooding will receive aid until the next harvest, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

She gave the assurance while distributing relief items at the flood-stricken district of Dinajpur on Sunday.

The government will provide tin for rebuilding damaged homes besides loan and seed to farmers, she told a public rally at Dinajpur Zila School. 

School students from flood-hit areas will also be given free textbooks, she said.

“The government will give loans and seeds to farmers. Students will get new books and stationeries. The educational institutions damaged by the flood will be repaired.”

Monsoon flooding has damaged crops on 1.89 million hectares of land. Nearly 300,000 people are living in 953 shelters across the country.

Large swathes of wetland were flooded in April when embankments failed in six districts of Sylhet, leading to huge crop losses.

There are enough grains in the national reserve, said Hasina, against fears of a food crunch.

“There has been no food crisis in the last eight years. After coming to power in 1996, we managed to put an end to the food crisis in the northern districts. We will again make sure that everyone has food and shelter,” she said.

Iqbalur Rahim, parliament whip and Dinajpur-3 MP, and Dinajpur-2 MP Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury were present at the rally.

Hasina distributed relief at Teghora High School in Biral Upazila, before heading out for her visit to Kurigram, another flood-stricken district among regions in the north.

Agricultural Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, Foreign Affairs Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman and Food Minister Qamrul Islam are accompanying the prime minister.