Ousted autocrat, opposition out to stir unrest

Says Tarique during his whirlwind puja tour

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman yesterday urged people to remain vigilant against attempts to create unrest, alleging that the ousted autocrat and a faction of the opposition had joined hands to destabilise the country.

“We’ve intelligence reports that the ousted autocrat is providing money from across the border to a particular political party, which is trying to create instability here,” he said at a rally at Haji Muhammad Mohsin Government High School ground in Rajshahi.

He said people must remain alert to ensure that no one could create disorder or disrupt efforts to revive the economy and improve their livelihoods.

“We say: ‘We will work, we will build, Bangladesh first.’ Those who do not believe in this slogan and principle are now involved in conspiracies,” he said, referring to recent attempts to foment labour unrest at factories in different parts of the country.

The prime minister said the government had taken initiatives to reopen closed mills and factories to create jobs and reduce unemployment.

In Rajshahi district, the government had brought together businesspeople and entrepreneurs and encouraged them to reopen shuttered industrial units. Six mills and factories had reopened in the past seven months, he said.

“The core objective is to ensure that our workers do not remain unemployed and can return to work,” he said.

The government had also taken initiatives to reopen around 46 more closed factories across the country between January and December next year, he said, adding, “We want our workers to have jobs so they can earn a living and sustain themselves.”

Tarique said the government planned to double the bed capacity of every upazila health complex from 50 to 100 over the next five years to improve access to healthcare.

Separate beds for women and children, along with dialysis facilities for kidney patients, would also be introduced so rural residents would not have to travel to distant towns for routine treatment, he said.

At the start of the rally, the prime minister distributed Tk 12 crore in incentives among 38,970 sugarcane farmers in the Rajshahi region. He transferred the money to their mobile accounts with the press of a button on a computer and handed cheques to 15 farmers.

The rally was chaired by BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and addressed by Land Minister Mizanur Rahman Minu, Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir, Cultural Affairs Minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury, BNP Standing Committee Member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Rajshahi lawmakers.

Thousands of BNP leaders and activists from across Rajshahi district attended the rally, along with men and women from the Hindu community who are celebrating Durga Puja.

Earlier, Tarique arrived at Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi aboard a military aircraft at 2:50pm and went straight to the rally venue. Before visiting Rajshahi, he had attended a Durga Puja mandap at Dharmasabha Temple in Rangpur. After his engagements in Rajshahi, he left for Shah Makhdum Airport to fly to Chattogram.