The Advisory Council of the interim government has decided to convert Ganabhaban, official residence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, into "July Revolution Memorial Museum", keeping the memory of the student-led mass uprising that toppled Hasina-led government on August 5.
The decision was taken at the meeting of the Advisory Council held at the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO) with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in the chair on Thursday, reports UNB.
“Visible steps will soon be taken,” Youth, Sports and Labour Affairs Adviser Asif Mahmud told reporters while responding to a question during a media briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.
Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam, Deputy Press Secretaries Abul Kalam Azad Majumdar and Apurba Jahangir were also present.
Asif said that they would look into examples in other countries to build the memorial museum and keep it open to the public.
He said that they would keep it unchanged (as it stands now) and there would be a museum inside Ganabhaban.
The adviser said Ganabhaban could not emerge as a people’s building truly and the students and common people won it through uprising.
“It will be kept open for the people,” Asif said, adding that it will bear all the memories of martyrs of the uprising, tortures and injustice of the previous government.
He said the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will jointly implement the initiative.
Thursday marked one month since Sheikh Hasina resigned amid student-led mass uprising and fled to India leaving the country in a leadership vacuum for a couple of days.
The country was in a state of lawlessness until Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus returned home from Paris and took oath as the chief adviser of the interim government on August 8, chosen by the student leaders and backed by the army.
Hasina’s fall was so dramatic that she had only 45 minutes to leave Ganabhaban, which was stormed by jubilant protesters shortly after her exit.
The student protests began in July against a quota system in government jobs that critics said favoured people with connections to Hasina’s party.
Draft national gene bank policy
Additionally, the Advisory Council on Thursday also formed a committee to examine, update and recast the draft “National Gene Bank Management Policy-2024” for proper conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources to ensure food security facing climate risk.
The draft policy was placed in the Advisory Council meeting for approval, said a press release of the Cabinet Division, reports BSS.
The environment, forest and climate change adviser was made convener of the committee while the agriculture adviser and fisheries and livestock adviser were also included in it.
The release said the Ministry of Science and Technology will provide secretarial support to the committee.
The committee has been asked to finalise an updated and revised policy. The Ministry of Science and Technology will send it to the Cabinet Division for placing it in the Advisory Council meeting.
The Advisory Council has formally adopted a felicitation motion for Bangladesh National Cricket Team’s 2-0 victory in the two-match Test series against host Pakistan, which will be issued through a gazette notification.
