Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md. Asaduzzaman, addressing government employees, said: “Many of you come to the office at 9 and do office work only until 5, 6 or 7. If you maintain these office hours, public service will improve. Harassment of the public will decrease. We want to increase public service and reduce harassment of the people. That is our political commitment. It is one of our commitments to good governance.”
“If you do not come to the office on time, we will assume you have no love for this office and no love for the public. In that case, you will owe me my salaam (assalamu alaikum),” he said.
He made the remarks on Wednesday (June 17) morning at an exchange-of-views meeting with the heads of all government offices and prominent citizens of the district, held at the deputy commissioner’s office, after inaugurating a modern slaughterhouse in the Pabhati area of Jhenaidah town.
The minister said: “If my people do not get service, if you are negligent and unwilling to serve my people, then there is no need for you to remain a public servant. There is much unemployment in Bangladesh, and we can find many people to serve as public servants. But we will not, in future, accept any stinginess in giving service to the people.”
He said: “Our corrupt people show off their money after taking it. The era of building the finest house and buying the finest car is over. You earn 1 lakh taka a month in salary, 12 lakh taka a year. Yet you are building a house worth 5 crore taka and riding around in a car worth 1 crore taka, and there is no reason for us to sit quietly.”
He said a rapist and a drug dealer cannot belong to any party. He also warned that no political leader should engage in lobbying in such cases.
On the opposition’s criticism of the budget, the minister said: “The budget will of course be ambitious. The BNP has the courage to deliver a dreamer’s budget because it dreams. The budget it has delivered is a budget of dreams; we are advancing along the path of dreams, so of course it will be ambitious.”
He said taxes had been reduced in the budget for the poor, for commerce and for employment. “In this budget, much greater importance has been given to social development. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said, ‘I have a plan,’ and we are moving forward as part of that. We have kept our election promise before the ink of voters’ votes could fade. On Wednesday (June 17), family cards are being distributed simultaneously in 19 districts across Bangladesh,” he said.
Also present were Deputy Commissioner Md. Noman Hossen, Zila Parishad administrator Abdul Majid, heads of various government and non-government institutions, police, RAB and BGB officials, and political figures.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report