Nagad to distribute 45pc of PM’s Eid gift for low-income families

Nagad, the digital financial service of Bangladesh Post Office, will distribute about 45% of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Eid gift among around 3.34 million low-income people affected by the pandemic.

When the pandemic hit the country last year, the prime minister’s Eid gifts were delivered among some 3.41 million affected families through mobile financial services (MFS).

As per the decision of the government, around Tk834.73 crore is expected to be distributed this time among the affected, with Tk2,500 per person from each family through mobile financial services.

Of this, 1.5 million families will get such Eid gifts through Nagad, which is also 44.83% of the total number of beneficiary families.

Last year, some 1.29 million families received such support from the premier through Nagad.

Apart from Nagad, some 1.05 million families would be provided financial support this time by bKash, which represents 31.57% of the total number of beneficiary families.

Last year, bKash provided prime minister’s financial support to some 930,000 families.

Rocket, the MFS service of Dutch Bangla Bank, this time will provide such financial support to some 788,000 families compared to 706,000 families last year.

Officials said although SureCash provided financial support to some 480,000 families last year, their services have remained suspended this year.

As a result, their service recipients have been divided among three other MFS providers.

As per the rearrangement, about 50% of the 480,000 SureCash clients will now receive cash support from Nagad, followed by 30% from bKash and 20% from Rocket.

Like the previous year, each family will receive Tk2,500 each.

Officials said the beneficiaries will also get the charges for cashing out Tk2,500 cash support for per beneficiary for which they need not to pay any extra amount.

The relevant MFS operators will send the amount of the financial support to the beneficiaries after adding their respective cash out charges.

Against rendering such services, the operators will get Tk15 for sending Tk2,500 to each beneficiary.

Operators will have to bear the rest of the amount for the cash out.

Earlier last year, the prime minister inaugurated the operations of providing financial support to the affected families through the government to person (G2P) method. The premier is also expected to inaugurate such operations of providing financial support this time.

Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, said from the very beginning, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stood beside the poor and affected people who lost their jobs because of Covid-19.

“This is the farsightedness of our prime minister. Moreover, due to her increased interest in digital services, beneficiaries are now getting the government’s grants through their mobile phones sitting at home,” he said.

“We think that Nagad has been given more responsibility than last year because of its efficiency and transparency to the process,” he added.

“We promise that the government’s allocation will be delivered to all the beneficiaries in accordance with the list given by the administration in the most transparent manner in compliance with all the rules and guidelines,” Mishuk further said.

Apart from distributing financial support to those families who lost their jobs due to Covid-19, the Ministry of Agriculture is actively considering to provide cash support of Tk5,000 to each affected farmer of 36 districts as hailstorms and nor’easter with gusty wind swept over those districts on April 4.

Around Tk50 crore will be required for this purpose while work is on to prepare the list of the affected farmers by the Ministry of Agriculture.