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MONGA SITUATION IN KURIGRAM GRIM

Exodus to cities for food, job starts

RAFIQUE SARKER, Kurigram
Thousands of people in the poverty-stricken northern district are suffering from Monga, a near-famine situation, which has appeared this year with a grimmer face.
The poor, particularly the agricultural day labourers, are going without a proper meal for days at a stretch amid extreme economic hardship. The situation is worst in Ulipur, Chilmari, Roumari, Rajibpur and Kurigram Sadar upazilas, where the labourers have no alternative work but farming, which will not be available for another eight to nine weeks.
Every year in Ashwin and Kartik (early October to late November), most of the agro-labourers in Kurigram and the neighbouring districts become
unemployed, simply because no farm hand is needed in this period. Monga spells dire hardship for the poor, who usually have no reserve to buy provisions and so have to starve -- half or full.
A huge number of such hungry people of these areas have been heading for Dhaka, Sylhet, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Chittagong in search of job, food and shelter.
Having no alternative, they are borrowing money for their fares as well as livelihood from local usurers at cutthroat interest rates to be paid during the Aman harvest about one and a half months away.
They are seen thronging Kurigram bus terminal, Chilmari river port and Ulipur railway station, waiting for low-fare buses, launches and trains.
“I had no other way but to borrow 1,000 taka at 20 percent interest a month from a neighbouring moneylender. Of that sum, I have left 500 taka with my wife for food of my three family members. And with the rest of the money, I am off to Munshiganj to hunt for a job,” said Shakwat of Chargujipara under Hatia union of Ulipur upazila.
Abdul Gafur of Noyadanga under Jorgachh union of the same upazila is heading for Dhaka. He sold his lone mango tree at his homestead for Tk 1,600. He said, “I am going to Dhaka with 500 taka only. I have left the rest of the money with my mother to run the family for at least the next one month.”
“I will return home when the Aman harvest begins, when work in the field becomes available again,” Gafur added.
Yet some others said they have sold their labour in advance to arrange the travel costs. They will have to pay the money back with labour during the Aman season.
This year the lashes of Monga are felt more fiercely helped by the price spiral of essentials, including rice, salt, edible oil and vegetables, observed Mukul, chairman of Thanarhat Union Parishad (UP) of Chilmari upazila.
He said, “Let alone the day labourers, even the middle, small and marginal farmers of the district are facing difficulties to manage two meals a day
due to the continuous price hike.”
But, according to Kurigram Deputy Commissioner Azizur Rahman Mollah, the Monga situation is not as alarming as some media reports have been claiming. Only the families who have taken shelter on the river embankments may be facing food scarcity, he reckoned.
The DC said the government has already launched VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding), VGD (Vulnerable Group Development) and rural food ration programmes in all upazilas in the district to ease the Monga situation.
Besides, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is giving 30kg rice to each of the 42,306 families in five upazilas and two municipalities of the district, while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has promised Tk 120,000 for the vulnerable families of all the upazilas, DC Mollah went on.
He said he has already received the approvals and orders to launch the government's routine programmes -Test Relief, Food for Work and Money for Work -- but he is yet to start implementing them. However, he asserted, "Monga will sure be driven away once these programmes start."
In this regard, Chinnai UP Chairman Nurul Hoque said the Monga could be brought under control provided the government distributes rice under the VGF, VGD and rural food rationing programmes at least twice a month during the lean period.