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Published on June 13, 2019
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought cooperation from all including lawmakers, public representatives and noted personalities irrespective of parties and opinions to work in unison to stamp-out irregularities, injustices and corruption from the society for the continuation of the development.
“I seek cooperation from all including from the lawmakers, public representatives irrespective of parties and opinions to work together to put an end to the social irregularities including corruption,” she said.
The premier said these in the parliament while replying to a supplementary question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Begum Rawshan Ara Mannan (women seat-47) in the question-answer session slated for her. Sheikh Hasina, also Leader of the House and Awami League President, has sounded a note of warning of taking stern action against those who would be found involved in committing corruptions and crimes irrespective of their political affiliation lead to creating irregularities and injustices in the society.
Sheikh Hasina said, “If anyone of my party is involved in crimes, I will not spare him or her. I’m currently not sparing any of them and will continue it in the days to come. Punishment should begin from own home which I have already initiated. ”
None will be spared in case of committing crimes, the PM warned, saying that action has even been taken against members from the law enforcement agencies in this regard.
The prime minister also called upon the lawmakers and local public representatives to form a committee in each of the areas involving noted personalities from the society, teachers, and guardians to ward off any sorts of irregularities and injustice in the society.
She thanked the female lawmaker for putting forward the question of whether the government has any plan to form a committee in each of the areas to take action against those who are hatching a conspiracy to make a halt the ongoing development of the country and to stop social crimes such as corruption, torture on women and children.
“We are getting enough honour from foreign countries due to the huge socio-economic development of the country and for the continuation of the admiration, we should eliminate injustice from the society,” she continued.
About the government’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ against corruption, the premier said, “We will not commit corruption and wouldn’t allow others in doing so.”
Terming both bribe taker and bribe giver criminals, she said both should bring to book, adding, “We will also take action against the instigators and patrons of the criminals.”
Replying to the starred question no-1 from the Jatiya Party lawmaker Begum Rawshan Ara Mannan, the premier also said, “Our government is committed to establishing an administrative framework based on the rule of law to ensure socio-economic development and public welfare and to form welfare state as well.”
Spelling out her government’s initiative to pursue the ‘zero tolerance policy’ against corruption, she said, “We have a special plan to reduce corruption to zero levels by strengthening the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and public awareness campaign, and also using the modern information technology.”
The premier said the corruption rate has been reduced due to the anti-graft drives and huge awareness campaign against the corruption conducted by the enforcement teams of the ACC.
Recommendations to stop corruption and formulation of work plan prepared by the ACC will also contribute to curbing corruption in different departments and divisions of the ministries to stop corruption in the concerned organizations, she opined.
Highlighting her government’s initiatives to make the ACC activities more dynamic, the premier said, “We have increased divisional offices to eight from six and coordinated district offices to 36 from 22 and increased its manpower to 2146 from 1274.”
A three-year plan titled “Strengthening the Anti-Corruption Commission” has already been adopted with taking measures including setting up IT Support Service System and ACC’s own digital forensic lab and IPTV, she said.
Once the plan is implemented the accountability and transparency of the ACC officials and employees will be increased, she added.
The premier said there is no need to form a separate organization to stop corruption.
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