PM: Celebrate Padma Bridge launch across the country

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked the people of the country to celebrate the grand launching of Padma Bridge as its construction over the mighty river was a matter of big challenge for Bangladesh.

“Celebrate it not only on the banks of Padma, but also throughout Bangladesh. I want the festival to be held in every district because it was a big challenge for us,” she said.

The prime minister said this while inaugurating the two newly constructed training and research institutes for the rural development — ‘Palli Janapad’ in Rangpur and ‘Bangabandhu Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development Academy (BAPARD)’ at Kotalipara in Gopalganj — through a videoconference from her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka.

Sheikh Hasina also said the country’s southern region will no longer remain neglected after the opening of the much-awaited 6.15km double-deck road-rail bridge over the Padma on June 25.

“I think that the people of the southern region will have no more trouble… Their financial condition will improve. They will be able to lead a more improved life for the development of their socio-economic condition,” she added.

The southern region has always been neglected, but it would not remain ignored anymore as the Padma Bridge would help develop industries there, the prime minister said, adding that her government has already brought the area under the electricity network and is improving internal road connectivity further there.

“We, the people of the southern region or the banks of Padma River, have always been neglected and poverty has been a regular feature in our lives. But it (poverty) will not remain anymore,” she said.

The prime minister said many people earlier thought that the government could not construct the bridge over the mighty Padma River.

Lambasting Dr Muhammad Yunus, she once again said the World Bank’s funding to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project was stopped due to a person who got the highest opportunities from the Awami League government but betrayed the people of Bangladesh.

Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Md Tazul Islam, State Minister Shawpan Bhattacharjee and Secretary of Rural Development and Co-operative Division Md Mashiur Rahman spoke at the function, joining it from Gopalganj.

Like BARD in Cumilla and RDA in Bogura, the two new multistoried institutes will carry out experiments and develop model programmes for rural development and poverty alleviation.

The secretary, in his welcome speech, said the construction of three more institutes in three other divisions is now underway under projects aimed at poverty alleviation and rural development.