From now on, wages of those working under Sustainable Forests & Livelihoods (SUFAL) Project run by Bangladesh Forest Department will be disbursed through Nagad, a leading mobile financial service in Bangladesh.

To this end, a tripartite agreement was recently signed among Directorate of Posts, Nagad Ltd and Bangladesh Forest Department at Bana Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon area, which will enable project beneficiaries to get their wages and allowances from the comfort of their home without facing any hassle.

Gobinda Roy, deputy chief conservator of Forests & project director of SUFAL Project, Parvin Banu, director (Planning) of Directorate of Posts, and Md Shafayet Alam, executive director of Nagad, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

Sheikh Shabab Ahmed, chief external affairs officer, Nagad, Mohammad Monirul Islam, general manager of Commercial Affairs, Nagad, Tanveer Chowdhury, deputy general manager of Government Sales Operations, Nagad, Md Amir Hosain Chowdhury, chief conservator of Forests, Md Moinuddin Khan, deputy chief conservator of Forests, and Md Mizanur Rahman, postal attaché of Directorate of Posts, were also present at the signing ceremony.

Because of this agreement, workers of SUFAL project will instantly get their wages through Nagad. A day labourer will get BDT 500 in wage per day, a watcher BDT 3,000 per month and one tasked with community patrolling BDT 1,800 per month. The annual disbursement for paying salaries and other allowances among the people engaged with the project stands at more than BDT 200 crore. 

Md Shafayet Alam, executive director of Nagad, said, “Nagad has become people’s favourite service provider within a short time. That is why the government is disbursing various types of allowances through Nagad. Besides, many government institutions and agencies depend on Nagad to pay salaries to their employees, which inspires us to do better.”