BNP on Saturday opposed the government’s move to engage the ruling party men in preparing the list of the poor and destitute for providing relief as the party fears that the needy people belong to opposition may remain excluded from that list, UNB reports.

“The Prime Minister has said Awami League leaders will prepare the list of the beneficiaries of relief materials and provide it to the administration. This means it’s only the ruling party men who will be included in the list,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Speaking at an online press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he said their party thinks the misappropriation of rice and other relief materials will increase if the ruling party men are involved in relief activities.

The BNP leader said the ruling party will make the list of their party men while others will die from starvation. “We think it’ll invite a famine-like situation. We also think the government should immediately back off from the decision of making the list by Awami League leaders and activists.”

Rizvi said several crores of people are facing food crisis as the government enforced an official lockdown to maintain social distancing to contain the coronavirus.

He said the government’s initiatives like allocating rice for the poor, launching OMS programme and selling essentials through TCB are definitely very positive. “But a black chapter will be created if transparency is not ensured and misappropriation not checked.”

The BNP leader said the government has completely failed to tackle the coronavirus situation in the country as it did not take effective steps in advance to prevent the virus transmission.

He said though the number of corona cases continue to surge in the country, the government has no proper preparation to enhance hospital capacity to deal with the growing number of patients.