Hasina pledges to rid country of corruption
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spells out future plans in JS Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday promised in parliament to free Bangladesh from corruption, misrule and militancy to build up the country as an abode of peace and plenty in South Asia, reports UNB. "Bangladesh was once synonymous with a land of militancy and terrorism. Today, that bad name has been removed. Bangladesh is now the land of peace and promise, and it has been possible after Awami League''s return to power," she said. Winding up the thanksgiving motion on the President''s New Year address to the House, the Prime Minister said her government has been working for the welfare of the people by discarding the politics of meanness and vendetta practiced by the previous government. "Awami League works for the people with liberal attitude to establish a developed and digital Bangladesh," she told the House amidst the thumping of desks by treasury- bench members to hail her vision. In her one-hour statement, the Prime Minister gave a pen picture of activities done in the first year of her government and spelt out future plans in accordance with her party''s election manifesto. On the current power and gas crises, Hasina frankly admitted that the public life has been rendered miserable by severe shortage of electricity and gas. However, she deplored that the BNP-Jamaat regime and the immediate-past caretaker government didn''t produce a single megawatt of electricity in their seven years of rule though the demand was on the rise. "The people would not have suffered so much if the previous government could produce some amount of electricity. Now the buck is passed to us," she said. To overcome the crisis urgently, the Prime Minister said that her government is taking initiative to explore gas and buy a three-dimensional rig so Bangladesh can survey and explore gas. "But it is indeed a time-consuming matter." Hasina said 700MW electricity has been added to the national grid and another quantum of 800 megawatts will be added in the near future. Besides, she said, the government is taking initiatives for harnessing solar energy, nuclear and clean energy. The Prime Minister mentioned certain daunting challenges like BDR mutiny and global economic meltdown she had to face at the very outset of her rule. She made a dig into the role of her political opponent, incumbent opposition leader Khaleda Zia, who she said had been missing for three days from her cantonment residence since the carnage while some people were in pleasure. "What the opposition leader expected out of this incident?" she questioned. The Prime Minister said it could easily be understood who were behind the BDR mutiny when some people tried to fish in the troubled waters. Bitterly criticizing the BNP politics, Hasina said they shed crocodile tears for the slain army officers. She questioned: "Who started bloodbath with the blood of army officers?" Recalling the hanging of hundreds of army officers by the Zia government, she said, "Ziaur Rahman did it to consolidate his power." Responding to BNP criticism about the last parliamentary elections, the Prime Minister made a flashback on the events that led to the 1/11 episode and the sufferings she had to experience in jail under the army-backed caretaker government. Hasina claimed that the December 29, 2008 election was the fairest vote after 1975 when the people cast their vote freely and elected a government of their choice. On her election pledges, the Prime Minister said her government brought down the prices of essentials, including rice, flour and soybean oil. "If BNP could return to power, people would have to buy rice at Tk 80 per kg." She said her government has raised pay on the one hand and reduced the inflation on the other so people could lead their life without much hardship. Despite recession, she said, remittances increased 24.4 percent while foreign reserve exceeded US$ 10-billion mark. On the much-talked-about business syndicate, the Prime Minister said, "We know the prices are increased through syndication. They have thousands of crores of Taka in their hands and doing manipulation on the market to tarnish the image of Awami League." On whitening money by top BNP leaders, Hasina wondered how a country could develop if a Prime Minister (Khaleda) and her family whitened black money. She urged the Finance Minister to publish a white paper showing who whitened how much in the past. As part of her government mission to alleviate poverty, the Prime Minister said, the present government focused on ensuring social-safety net for which Tk 7,500 crore has been allocated in the budget. Hasina also reiterated the government''s infrastructure-development plans, including construction of a deep-sea port, development of Chittagong and Mongla seaports, bridges, including Padma Bridge and Teesta bridge, and the dredging of all rivers. |
__._,_.___
