In Nilphamari, 13 destitute journalists received cheques from the Prime Minister's grant. Two among them were former MP of Nilphamari-2 constituency Md Shamsuddoha’s younger brother and his nephew.
Deputy Commissioner Khandaker Yasir Arefin distributed the cheques around 9:30am on Tuesday. Each recipient were given a cheque of Tk10,000 for motivation during Covid-19. However, the deputy commissioner did not comment on the matter.
The recipients of the stimulus are Md Shamsul Islam, the representative of the daily Bhorer Kagoj and the younger brother of Md Shamsuddoha, his son Mohammad Kamrul Hasan Kallol, correspondent of the same newspaper and lecturer at Mashiur Rahman Degree College, Kazi Mahbubul Haque Dodul, editor and publisher of local daily Neel Kotha, his daughter Farhana Mahbub, representative of Neel Kotha and Noor E Alam, assistant teacher of Chanderhat Girls High School, staff reporter of Neel Kotha, Robiul Islam, Subhash Biswas, correspondent of Daily Bangladesh Bulletin and Chandni Bazar, Golam Rabbani, correspondent of Bijoy TV, Ahsan Habib, correspondent of Dainik Poribesh, Lokman Hossain, correspondent of The Daily Alor Diganta among others.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Azharul Islam was present at the event held in the conference room of the deputy commissioner as were Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Jasmine Nahar and Nilphamari Press Club President Tahmin Haque Bobby, among others.
Meanwhile, the list included teachers, newspaper editors and owners, four people from the same newspaper, including the daughter of a newspaper editor who is not a journalist. There has been a storm of criticism because the grant was received by the wealthy Bhorer Kagoj correspondent and his lecturer son.
Several local journalists said: “Destitute journalists should have received the grants but the owner of the newspaper, four people including his daughter, who are in other professions have taken advantage of well-known journalists. At the same time, professional journalists were disadvantaged.”