The government will distribute some 13,872 metric tonnes of rice among 554, 887 fisher families across the country during the hilsha fishing ban period for 22 days from October 7.
“A total of 554,887 fisher families throughout the country will get 13,872 tonnes of rice under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme during this main hilsha breeding season,” said Additional Director General of the Department of Fisheries (DoF) M Atiar Rahman.
The fishermen families of 155 upazilas in 37 districts, who will refrain from catching fish, will get the VGF facilities during this time, according to BSS.
Under the allotment, each fisher family will get 25 kgs of rice during the period as the grant of the allocation has already been sent to the office of the respective deputy commissioners.
According to the division-wise VGF rice disbursement, the government has allocated over 1204 tonnes of rice for the Dhaka division, 200 tonnes for the Mymensingh division, over 3703 tonnes for the Chattogram divison, 402 tonnes for Khulna division, 383.75 tonnes for the Rajshahi divison, 325 tonnes for Rangpur division and 9,183.60 tonnes for Barishal division.
To make the mother hilsha conservation successful, the government has allocated Tk 100 million for mother hilsha conservation, prevention of jatka killing and conducting combing operation for destroying illegal fishing nets including ‘Behundi.
To materialise the programme, the government has already distributed Tk 12.5 million for different divisions, district and upazila offices under the department of fisheries in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The government has also earmarked over Tk 17.1 million for conducting supervision and monitoring across the sea and different rivers to protect hilsha.
