Taking part in budget discussion at the Parliament, a number lawmakers including cabinet members on Saturday said Bangladesh will reach its aspired development goals In view of the ongoing development process of Bangladesh, Liberation Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq on Saturday said the country will reach to a prosperous country before the stipulated timeframe under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On the welfare activities of the government for the veteran freedom fighters, Huq said the government has allocated Tk 2,200 crore for the insolvent freedom fighters, saying that each insolvent freedom fighter will get Tk 15 lakh. He urged the government to remove all the graves including former president Ziaur Rahman from the Jatiya Sangsad area. Terming the budget as a philosophy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, chief whip Noor-E-Alam
Chowdhury said the country will be a prosperous country if the budget of such ideology could be implemented. Welcoming the proposed budget, State Minister of Labour and Employment Monnujan Sufian said the government has proposed an outlay of Tk 5,23,190 crore in 2019-20 fiscal for keeping continuous development of the country.
Bitterly criticizing the critics of some quarters on the proposed budget, Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affair Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing said the proposed budget does not spare any communities of people and any region of the country. Recalling the peace agreement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts the CHT minister said once upon a time the budgetary allocation for the region was Tk 50-60 crore and now the allocation has crossed Tk thousand crore.
Terming the budget as smart one, State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel said, “the budget has earmarked Tk 100 crore startup fund for the youth entrepreneurs and the concerned youth and sports ministry has taken up necessary programmes for providing employment to 3 crore people by 2030.”
“The proposed budget is committed to cut poverty and expedite development of the country and turn a modern country within the period of 2041”, said Ashim Kumar Ukil.
Jatiya Party lawmaker Masuda M Rashid Chowdhury said the budget implementation is somewhat challenging as the budget deficit is Tk 1,45,380 crore where Tk 47,364 crore would be taken from the banking sector as a loan. Terming the implementation of the proposed budget is challenging, deputy leader of the opposition Raushan Ershad said the implementation of the proposed budget is somewhat challenging. She was optimistic that revenue earning of Tk 3,77,810 crore will be realized, but the poor performance of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will create a big challenge for the proposed budget.
Highlighting the proposed budget as the 48th budget of the country, the deputy leader of the opposition urged the government to take necessary initiative so that the proposed budget would not create further inequality between the poor and the rich. Treasury bench member Qamrul Islam, Asaduzzaman Noor, Jaya Sen Gupta, Showkat Hasanur
Rahman (Rimon), Shahin Akter, Md. Mohibbur Rahman,Shafiqul Islam Shimul, Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Syeda Zakia Nur, Shaikh Salahuddin, Akbar Hossain Pathan (Farooque), Mohammad Ebadul Karim, Ataur Rahman Khan, Ahmed Firoz Kabir, Parveen Haque Sikder, Nahim Razzaq, took part in the general discussion on proposed national budget.
Earlier, they paid their cordial tribute to the memory of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, four national leaders, martyred freedom fighters and also those who made their utmost sacrifices during the War of Liberation and all subsequent democratic movements in the country.