Govt project benefits 4,386 families in Khulna’s Rupsha upazila

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KHULNA, Aug 24, 2019 (BSS) – At least 4,386 poor and extreme-poor families
in the Rupsha upazila of the district are getting benefit from the
government’s “Amar Bari, Amar Khamar (ABAK)” project, one of the 10 priority
initiatives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, sources said.

The government has undertaken the project to alleviate poverty and achieve
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through fund mobilization and
farming, they said.

Under the project, a total of 83 “Village Development Associations” (VDAs)
have been formed in Rupsha upazila of Khulna district which provides
financial benefit to 4,386 families, Snigdha Aktar, Co-ordinator of ‘ABAK’
project in the upazila said.

The beneficiaries deposited over TK 1.37 crore so far and the government
provided 1.15 crore as bonus and 1.66 crore as loans under the project, she
said.

Snigdha said marginalized people under VDAs have become self-reliant and
capable of running their businesses independently using money from the fund.

Around TK 2.96 crore has already been disbursed as micro credit among the
members and currently the rate of loan recovery is 80 percent, she added.

Under the project, each VDA member deposited Taka 200 per month and the
government provides the equal amount in favor of each person as bonus, she
said, adding all the money has been deposited to the bank account of VDA.

After getting fund from the respective VDA, people can run small farms like
fishery, livestock, poultry and make nursery and vegetable garden, she
continued.

Ronjita Das, a resident of the remote Kajdia village of the upazila, has
been running a duck farm for the last two years by taking a loan of taka
15,000 from the VDAs association under the ABAK project.

“In this short span of time, I became self reliant and contributed a lot to
my family,” he said.