The government will be redirecting the money allocated for rice and wheat under the Test Relief and Food for Work programmes, using it instead to set up solar panels and biogas plants.
Government sources said 193,000 tonnes or 51% of the total rice and wheat under the two programmes, amounting to Tk667.08 crore of a total Tk1,308 crore allocated for the 2014-15 fiscal year, would now be repurposed under the move.
The decision was made at an inter-ministerial meeting presided over by Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed at the Finance Ministry auditorium a few weeks ago.
Seeking anonymity, a Finance Division official said: “We are trying to find out the possible impact of decision, which will be analysed with help of the Ministries of Food and Disaster Management.
“The Ministry of Disaster Management will also prepare the policy of handing out money to the traders of solar panels and biogas plants” the official added.
The Prime Minister’s Office had earlier issued a directive on this regard a couple of months ago, he said.
Sources in Finance Division said some lawmakers who are involved in the alternative energy business would get preference for the jobs of supplying solar panels as well as equipment for bio-gas plants.
According to the decision, the government will prepare a fresh guideline to collect rice and wheat under the TR and Food for Work programmes for the current fiscal year.
Food Minister Qamrul Islam, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not compulsory to use the 50% allocation of rice and wheat for the solar panel and biogas projects.
Once the move is implemented, the Food Ministry would supply funds according to the demand of the businessmen involved in the solar panel and biogas projects, he added.
