Oikyafront calls for national consensus, conveys 5-point proposal to tackle coronavirus

Jatiya Oikyafront – a four-party political alliance – has set forth five proposals before the government to establish national consensus in order to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The whole world is in the grip of the virulent virus which is also spreading at an alarming rate in Bangladesh.

It is essential that the government ensure life-saving health services for 18 crore people and expand coronavirus testing nationwide, said a press release.

The Oikyafront, led by Dr Kamal Hossain – an eminent lawyer and leader of Gano Forum, said the situation has become a matter of utmost emergency, and now is not the time to see the problem from a narrow point of view.

The people have been undergoing a huge burden of uncertainty. Their reliance has been damaged extremely due to the vacillation over the opening and shutting down of garment factories, said the Oikyafront.

The five proposals:

1. Establishing a "national consensus" with the participation of all political parties and workers of all classes and professions along with experts from different fields;

2. Prioritising healthcare, considering the present situation as war-like, by forming an all-party taskforce and adopting a national-regional action plan;

3. Taking special initiatives to protect Rohingyas in refugee camps;

4. Immediately starting rationing food items at a fair price for the unemployed, especially female garment workers, destitute day-labourers, marginal farmers, differently-abled and disadvantaged children; and

5. Forming an "Emergency Economic Council" based on national consensus about the socio-economic situations after the coronavirus pandemic.