The mobile numbers of the relatives of the Muriauk union parishad chairman have appeared 306 times on a draft list prepared for beneficiaries of government-allocated cash aid in Lakhai upazila of Habiganj.
Sources say the local administration has been making draft lists of poor families impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and are therefore eligible for cash assistance ofTk2,500 each.
The enlisted families will receive the money through mobile financial services before Eid ul Fitr.
A total of 6,000 families are entitled to receive that benefit under Lakhai upazila, of whom 1,176 beneficiaries fall under Muriauk union.
When the draft list for Muriauk union was submitted to the Upazila Nirbahi Office on Saturday, it was discovered that four mobile numbers belonging to Muriauk UP chairman Rafiqul Islam had appeared 306 times on the list.
When the news spread among local residents, it led to huge uproar and provoked mass criticism, which went viral on social media.
When the matter came to the local administration’s attention, officials said the mistakes occurring in the draft were being rectified right away.
Dhaka Tribune contacted Muriauk UP Chairman Rafiqul Islam regarding the blunder.
Proffering his explanation, Rafiqul Islam said: “We from the union office made a list of 730 beneficiaries, while the rest was made from the upazila nirbahi office. The computer operator there was the one who made the error and we are now fixing it.”
About all four numbers in the supposed error belonging to his relatives, he said: “The mobile numbers belong to my distant relatives, none of them are close to me. This was an unintentional error made at the upazila nirbahi office due to haste.”
Contacted, Lakhai Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Lusikanto Hajong said: “I have been in home isolation ever since I tested positive for coronavirus. The matter was supervised by the upazila assistant commissioner (land).”
In his reaction, which was in stark contrast to that of the UNO, Lakhai Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Sanchita Karmakar said: “I was not a part of the program; it was supervised by the UNO.”
Regarding the issue, Habiganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Kamrul Hasan told Dhaka Tribune that mistakes had occurred in the draft copies and would be corrected shortly.
"The list of beneficiaries will not contain any error. We have already collected a list of 100 beneficiaries, of whom 39 people have already received the cash aid.”