Food and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday said that the government would not write off agricultural loans and would rather reschedule them.

Criticising previous governments for waiving repayments on agricultural loans, she said:

“Such moves never help anyone. After all. whose money are we writing off?"

"If we write off loans the tax payers would have to bear the burden. We have not been given the right to burden the tax payers in this manner,” Matia said at a dialogue oh The 1998 deluge : Developing coping capacities" organised by CPD at the CIRDAP auditorium yesterday.

She also criticised those who spread rumours that there

would be a severe famine and thousands would die in the aftermath of the floods.

"It was the joint effort of the government and the civil society that helped overcome possible crises." she said. •

Earlier, Syed M Hashemi of Nagorik Duriog Mukabela Ud-dyag (NDMU) in his keynote paper at the session on GVF cards and relief operations said that four million VGF cards were distributed nationally in the first phase of the government programme.

He discussed on a study undertaken to determine the effectiveness of VGF cards in the light of targeting the destitute, efficacy of the distribution process. and the importance of VGF foodgrains in meeting consumption needs of the destitute

during the post-flood period.

The study was conducted in 14 thanas of Kurigram, Gaibandha and Jamalpur districts.

"The survey on the randomly-selected VGF card recipients indicates that the end-liner destitute received cards and for the most part very little corruption was Involved in the distribution process.

According to the findings of the survey, there were two cases where the respondents were non-existent. One person in Kurigram. three in Gaibandha and 24 in Jamalpur had to pay money to receive their respective VGF cards.

"The generalised way of VGF card distribution across the country meant that many places, which were not severely

affected by floods, had received the same number of cards as in the cases of the intensely-hit areas. This means that in some areas people received VGF cards who may not be in dire needs. On the other hand, many desperately-needing people had not received their cards, it is. therefore. important to ensure that the most vulnerable areas are better targeted in the rehabilitation programme.

The number of VGF cards distributed were not sufficient. In Roumari thana 18.000 cards were required but only 7.000 had been distributed." the study said.