Only AL-supported traders being benefited from govt stimulus packages: BNP

Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior leader Selima Rahman on Wednesday alleged that the government has taken coronavirus pandemic as a “means of doing business by creating opportunities for traders to plunder public money”.

“The people of Bangladesh have now been left in a helpless situation. We’ve seen what happened to hospitals during the peak time of coronavirus onslaught. Traders belonging to Chhatra League and Jubo League like Shahed and Sabrina plundered huge money (from the health sector) and branded Bangladesh as a country of looting,” she said.

Inaugurating a free health camp, the BNP leader said, “The current government is a worthless one as it has taken coronavirus infection a way of doing business and created scopes for businessmen to indulge in corruption instead of helping people and standing beside them.”

Ziaur Rahman Foundation organised the programme at the National Press Club, marking the 56th birth anniversary of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.

Selima, also a BNP standing committee member, said coronavirus has spread badly across the country as the government failed to take effective preventive measures at the initial stage.

“When coronavirus started spreading at different countries, the government said they’re stronger than this virus. They pushed people towards death by not taking any step to prevent the virus and deal with the emerging situation,” she observed.

The BNP leader said there was no treatment at the hospitals for COVID-19 patients while the health workers did not get safety gears at the early stage of the pandemic. “We saw how helpless people across the country rushed from one hospital to another for receiving treatment.”

Selima said people are passing through a very tough time as the government has failed to deliver on all fronts.

“The government has destroyed every democratic institution and the electoral system by depriving people of their right to vote. The economy is in a bad shape while banks and the share market have got depleted,” she observed.

The BNP leader said the government is taking away money from people’s pockets by unusually hiking the prices of daily essentials. “People are now starving while many people have become jobless. The country can’t run this way.”

She also alleged that only the ruling party-supported traders are being benefited from the stimulus packages announced by the government to tackle the fallouts of the pandemic.