Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the members of Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA) to play a strong role in taking the country forward through properly implementing the government programmes, reports UNB. “I hope you’ll play a strong role in the future in taking forward the country through implementing the government steps and programmes,” she said. Hasina said t
his while addressing the annual conference of the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA) held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre here in the afternoon. Later, she joined an Iftar party there. State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadeq and Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan spoke on the occasion. BASA President Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury presided over the function, while BASA Secretary General AN Shamsuddin Azad Chowdhury delivered the welcome address. Hasina said her party does politics with a certain goal and ideology which are to ensure the development of common people. “We work as the servants of people…successful implementation of the government programmes mostly depends on you (administrative association members).” In this connection, the Prime Minister said a political party like hers came to power for five years, while government officials render their services for a longer time. “So, your support is very much essential.” Hasina also urged the BASA members to work together for building a happy and prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla’ for the future through their maximum integrity, sincerity and efficiency. The Prime Minister went on saying, “Any political government works with a specific goal and our aim is to improve the quality of life.” She said it is the responsibility of the public servants to implement the government programmes. “To what extent the government programmes will be executed that depends on your sincerity, labour and work efficiency.” Hasina said the salary and allowances of the public servants are paid with taxpayers’ money. “So, you’ll have to keep in mind that it is our responsibility to repay their debt by reaching the desired services to them.” The Prime Minister said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had struggled throughout his entire life for building ‘Sonar Bangla’ by ensuring food, clothes, housing, education and healthcare for the country’s common people. She said the anti-liberation forces killed Bangabandhu with most of his family members at that time when he devoted himself to building ‘Sonar Bangla’ by rebuilding the war-ravaged Bangladesh. “With that killing, the advancement of Bangladesh got halted, democracy sent on exile and the politics of killings, coup and conspiracy got introduced.” “Your predecessors had been the co-travellers of building Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla, and the responsibility for accomplishing the unfinished task has been vested upon you and the officials of the new generation,” Hasina said adding, “And you will have to complete that unfinished task.” Sheikh Hasina said her government has been working tirelessly to build a peaceful, democratic and non-communal Bangladesh by eliminating hunger, poverty and illiteracy. She said the optimum utilisation of information technology is the main tool to reach the government services to the doorsteps of people. “It’ll ensure the accountability and transparency alongside curbing corruption alongside reaching the desired services to people within the shortest possible time.” The Prime Minister said that e-service centre at every district administration and information service centre at every union have already been established. She said citizen charters have been implemented in government offices, while the biggest web portal in the globe titled ‘National Web Portal’ with 25,000 websites has been launched. “Bangladesh is now the role model of developing nation,” she added. The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has been able to gain its due rights from India with the maritime boundary verdict and assured of taking steps to properly utilise the maritime resources for the betterment of the country’s people. “We’ve been able to establish our rights in the bay through realising our just share from India. We’ll be able to properly utilise the marine resources for the betterment of the country’s people, Inshallah,” she said. Bangladesh has gained some 19,467 square kilometers of maritime areas at the Bay of Bengal out of the disputed approximately 25,602 square kilometers with neighbouring India, raising the prospect of exploring huge maritime resources. With this verdict, Bangladesh has won more than 118,813 square kilometers of waters comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 NM across sizable area, and also have ‘undeniable’ sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 NM from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all the living and non-living resources. The verdict by the arbitral tribunal, which cannot be appealed, has brought to an end in the arbitral process that was commenced by Bangladesh in respect of Myanmar and India under the UNCLOS in 2009. Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali officially disclosed the verdict at a crowded press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday afternoon. The previous victory for Bangladesh came on 14 March 2012 when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Homburg delivered the judgment in the maritime boundary case with Myanmar.
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