Bashir vows to distribute TCB cards to 1cr beneficiaries' over 6 months

Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin has vowed to establish social justice by completing the distribution process of the smart cards under the TCB to the deserved one crore beneficiaries after thorough scrutiny over the next four to six months.

"By this time, if I leave office, I want to ascertain that the marginal people and one crore families get the real benefits from the TCB and thus the establishment of social justice will be visible," he said.

The commerce adviser said this while giving an interview to the national news agency highlighting the ongoing operations and plans of TCB at his Secretariat office recently.

When asked whether there is any plan to further increase the number of smart card holders under the TCB, he said the initiative taken by the current TCB chairman and the immediate past chairman to rectify its selection and scrutiny process of the beneficiaries is definitely 'encouraging'.

"But, I am, on the whole, not so much satisfied over the matter as because we want to raise the number of beneficiaries to one crore from the current 57 lakh, if possible tomorrow. But, I think even this number of 57 lakh is not perfectly right," he added.

Referring to his visits to different parts of the country, Bashir said even a jute mill owner is the holder of TCB cards side by side with the owners of villas, mansions which shows the extent of flaws in the selection process of TCB cards in the previous AL-regime.

"I'm not satisfied as to ensure social justice there is a need to ensure visibility," he said adding that if such things or disparity continues to occur then there would be no establishment of social justice.

Alleging that there were miscreant acts and unruly things in all arenas during the past 15 and a half years of the Awami League (AL) regime, Bashir said most of the TCB family card holders were identified as fake during that regime.

"But, I can't stop this all of a sudden. At the very beginning, we've reduced such numbers to 57 lakh from one crore to rectify the process," he added.

Through scrutinizing the national ID, he informed me that some 37 lakh cards have already been cancelled temporarily and now they are turning the rest of the cards into smart cards although the pace in this regard is not so satisfactory.

Out of the 57 lakh smart cards, he said they have so far been able to prepare fully some 36 lakh smart cards.

Referring to his meeting with the concerned Deputy Commissioners at the district level, he said a timeframe has been fixed at March 17, 2025, and after that, all the cards yet to be scrutinized or turned into smart cards would be cancelled initially.

After that period, he said the TCB would go for fresh recruitment while unless this matter comes to a stop, then nothing afresh could be done."Those cards of beneficiaries which will be cancelled can be rolled out again after proper scrutiny if those are eligible,"

"After that, we'll further scrutinize these cards to determine which ones are flawed. Over the next two months, a purification drive will be conducted among these scrutinized numbers of cards," he added.

The commerce adviser said some cards might remain outside of the purview for a certain period, but then, the local representatives, student representatives and the local administrations would be involved in the process through forming committees and thus this number would be raised to one crore over the next four to six months. "It's my personal opinion or target," he added.