They carried banners and chanted various slogans during the 10 kilometre march, organised by Workers Party.

The march began after a brief rally at Sayedpur flood control embankment in Fulchari, addressed by Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon. The procession ended terminated at Gaibandha Shaheed Miner.

Addressing the rally, Menon called upon the government to declare Gaibandha a monga affected area and supply food to the poor.

The alliance government did not take any effective measure to contain the monga though thousands of affected people are virtually starving and are being attacked with diarrhora and other intestinal diseases after eating uneatable things due to food crisis, he said.

Monga is an annual phenomenon in the area but no government took any step either to supply adequate food to create employment for the poor day labourers who do not have any work during the pre-harvest period, he said.

Moreover, there is gross anomaly, corruption and nepotism in distribution of rice under VGF (vulnerable group feeding) and VGD (vulnerable group development) programmes, he alleged.

The Workers Party leader said Tk 500 crore has been provided by donors under the Char Livelihood Programme in northern districts to create jobs, out of which Tk 200 crore has already been "misused for conducting assessment".

Taking the scope of poverty, Islamist militants are misleading the youths and luring them to violence in the name of Islam, he said.

Menon called upon the people to build a movement against the alliance government who is sheltering Islamist militants but doing nothing to eradicate monga in northern districts.

He called upon the government to prepare a master plan immediately to set up industries based on the cheap labour in northern districts and to create jobs by mobilising the people in income generating activities.

Presided over by Fulchari upazila Workers Party Secretary Solaiman Alim, the rally was addressed by, among others, party leaders Jibuti Barman, Amiul Islam Golap, Jahangir Alam, Abdul Matin Mollah and Mosadek Ahmed Bulbul.