Goat rearing and other small businesses is very effective for eradicating urban poverty
alongside making the slum communities free from malnutrition, discussants at a bank-cheque
distribution ceremony said Wednesday afternoon.
They viewed that boosting the domestic animal especially goat could be the effective means of
fulfilling the major demand of animal protein of the society.
So, the community people should come forward to promote the potential sector in order to
increase meat and milk production. Emphasis should be given on utilising the existing natural
resources properly to uphold the national progress.
They made these observations while distributing bank cheques of block grants worth Taka 9.29
lakh among 187 distressed women for goat rearing and small business at Bakhtiarabad Ground
in the city.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) and Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP)
jointly organised the grants distribution ceremony aimed at stimulating the distressed
households towards money-making activities with the distributed grants.
The UPPRP, a seven-year anti-poverty scheme, is being implemented in the city since July 2008
last with financial and technical support from UNDP, UKaid and UNHabitat.
“We are working here for improving living and livelihood condition of some 70,000 households
consisting around three lakh poor and extreme poor population through multi-sectoral anti-
poverty interventions,” said UPPRP Town Manager Ershadul Haque in his welcome address.
City Mayor Mosaddeque Hossain Bulbul distributed the bank chaques as chief guest saying
substantial and sustainable promotion of the goat farming is very important for freeing the
slum dwellers from poverty and hunger.
He said the 98 square-kilometre city area is the home of around eight lakh populations and
around three of them are poor and extreme poor categories who were needed special support
for uplifting their living condition.
So, such type of poverty reduction programme should be expanded more for making the poor
and extreme poor people income-generator coupled with mainstreaming them as they are
more vulnerable towards various social crimes.
In the wake of gradually rising of slum, poor and extreme poor people, new more anti-poverty
schemes needed to eradicate urban poverty in the city alongside eliminating other poverty
linked social crimes especially addiction of drugs and its trafficking
“If we could make the slum households self-reliant many of the social curses and crimes could
be reduced to a greater extent,” Mayor Bulbul opined.
He urged the cheque-recipients to be more cautious about using the money so that the
cherished goal of the programme is fulfilled as promotion of goat rearing and small-business is
one of the major components of the scheme.
RCC Ward Councilors Abdus Sobhan Liton, Belal Ahmed, Momtaj Mohal Laily and Shamsun
Nahar and Executive Engineer Noor Islam Tusser also spoke as special guests. -BSS, Rajshahi
