Govt marks Tk 130 crore in soft loan for Sidr survivors

DHAKA, Nov 25 (bdprem.com) – The finance ministry will distribute Tk 130 crore in soft loans among cyclone-hit people, a government spokesman said Sunday. Fishermen, livestock and poultry farmers and other small businessmen will be given the loans through Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, the government's microcredit funding agency. The chief adviser's press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told bdnews24.com by telephone that the finance ministry had informed the council of advisers about the loans at a regular cabinet meeting Sunday. Asked about the terms and conditions of the loans, Munaim said the finance ministry and PKSF would finalise the matter. A government statement said the cabinet meeting also discussed relief operations in cyclone-hit areas. Unicef sent 15,000 buckets as relief materials to Patharghata in Barguna, one of the districts ravaged by the Nov 15 cyclone. In the upazila, power supply could not be restored until Sunday. A mobile water treatment plant with capacity of purifying 2,000 litres of water an hour reached Bagerhat. Same plants will soon be sent to the southern districts of Pirojpur and Patuakhali. Sunday's cabinet meeting approved a proposal of Bangladesh entering the ICT agreement of the Multilateral South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation and another proposal for ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The cabinet approved in principle the University of Professionals Ordinance 2007 and asked the related ministry to examine the proposed ordinance further and present it to a cabinet meeting again with opinions of the law ministry.