Sources in the District Food Controller Office told this correspondent the programme is being delayed as the list of selected families is yet to be prepared.

But some Union Parishad (UP) chairmen denied it and said that 19,600 families had been selected. The list was submitted to the authorities concerned, they said to this correspondent. The programme is being delayed due to lack of coordination among the officials in the administration and the Food Department, they said.

When contacted, the Deputy Controller of Food told this correspondent a meeting would be held soon to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, a few UP chairmen told this correspondent about 600 metric tons of foodgrains are required under the programme each month but the grains are yet to reach Local Supply Depot (LSD) godowns.

UP chairmen of inaccessible areas are allegedly facing problems in carrying VGD and VGF foodgrains.

This is because of allotment of meagre amount of money for carrying foodgrains, some UP chairmen said to this correspondent.

The UP chairmen said they received Tk 140 for carrying each ton of foodgrains from government godowns to the concerned UP headquarters but the actual carrying cost varies from Tk 1,200 to 1,600. This has resulted in economic loss, they disclosed.

Bolipara UP Chairman Kya Sa U Marma of Thanchi upazila told this correspondent, the government allotted 22,225 metric tons of foodgrains under VGF programme and 8.26 metric tons of rice under VGD programme in his union without paying its carrying cost.