The news of discontinuance of disability allowance is fake
Photo Collected
Holding the national flag tightly in his hand, another flag is wrapped around his head. Unable to speak but trying to make hand gestures in front of the camera, the allowance or support they provide is not enough. Another person next to him raises five fingers to convey something, someone tries to draw attention to their demands by playing a whistle. At one point, the man with the national flag on his head pointed his finger at the writing on the banner in front of him as a last resort of speechless protest.
It can be seen in the banner that deaf and speech-impaired people have organized a human chain and protest program in front of the National Press Club of Dhaka on the 15-point demand.
বিজ্ঞাপন
This video is being spread by a Facebook page using the name of former BNP leader of Kishoreganj Faizul Karim Mubin. The 21-second video was circulated on May 11 from the Facebook page named ‘Ad: Faizul Karim Mubin’. Its caption claims, ‘They are speech impaired. During Sheikh Hasina’s time, disability allowance was introduced for them, today they don’t even have that allowance.
The video has been viewed more than two lakh times, shared more than a thousand times, and 5 thousand people have reacted to it.
বিজ্ঞাপন
The same video has been posted in different places claiming, “Sheikh Hasina’s government introduced disability allowance for these speech-impaired people, today they don’t even have that allowance.” That’s what they were saying at the Dhaka Press Club.
A logo with the name ‘Awami League Supporters’ can be seen on the right side of the video posted by a Facebook page named ‘Ad: Faizul Karim Mubin’. Similar claims have been spread from several Facebook pages and personal profiles run in the name of the banned organization Bangladesh Awami League using the same video and caption.
A search found the video on more than 35 Facebook pages and profiles. The video in those posts has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
It is clear from the writings of many people in the comment room of the posts that they have assumed the news of cancellation of disability allowance to be true.
A person named Mamun Matbar wrote, “Shh, shame on the Tariq Rahman government, the disability allowance was stopped.” A person named Forkan wrote, “May God’s wrath fall on those who blocked the path of these helpless speech-impaired, widows, old age allowances.”
When Faizul Karim Mubin was contacted about the video posted demanding cancellation of disability allowance, he told Prothom Alo, “There is no Facebook page in his name.”
Searching for the video, the same video was found on a Facebook page called ‘Awaz News’ on May 10. The caption read, ‘Hearing impaired gathered in front of National Press Club.’
A review of the page reveals multiple videos of the same incident. Somewhere in the caption or in the text of the video, it is mentioned, ‘Allowance is very low, only 2500 taka in 3 months’, ‘Hearing-impaired people want 5 thousand taka per month allowance’, ‘Disabled people want to pay half fare in transport’, ‘Speech-impaired people express their suffering and demands through gestures’ and ‘Human chain of hearing-impaired people with 15-point demand.’
On the same day, a report published on Dainik Samakal’s Facebook page also revealed that on that day, deaf or hearing impaired people formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club with 15 points of demand.
According to the report of a private television channel, Zahirul Islam, president of Jatiya Badhir Oikya Parishad, said through a sign language interpreter (assistant person) that they have raised 15 demands. Among these were the demands of doubling the government allowance to 5,000 rupees, free medical treatment, half fare for transportation and employment.
It is also known whether anyone from the government has discussed with them after the sit-in program in front of the National Press Club.
A delegation of seven members of Jatiya Badhir Oikya Parishad met with the Minister of State for Social Welfare. At this time, the state minister assured them that the demands will be heard and initiatives will be taken to resolve them quickly.
On May 10, two more videos were published on the Facebook page named ‘Awaz News’. It is known from them that the agitators withdrew the program after the assurance of the government. The captions of the videos read, ‘Deaf people prostrated themselves on the ground of Allah after Prime Minister’s announcement’ and ‘Deaf people prayed for Prime Minister Tariq Rahman after hearing that their demands were being met.’
Sheela Rani Das, Additional Director (Social Security-03), Directorate of Social Services, was contacted to inquire about the claim that the present government has stopped the disability allowance. He told Prothom Alo that the information about the discontinuation of disability allowance spread on social media is not true, it is wrong information. Rather, the work of increasing the scope of disability allowance is underway. Besides, new recommendations have been made to ensure accessibility to all places for the disabled, which is expected to be reflected in the next budget.
He said, “Priority is also being given in giving family cards to families in which there are disabled persons. Therefore, the claim of cancellation of disability allowance is completely false.
So, the claim that the current government has stopped allowances for persons with disabilities or special needs is not correct.
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