Bangladesh
Development No matter what advice you give, the country is ours: Prime Minister
Dhaka, July 20: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, "Whatever advice you give, the country is ours. And we have to change the fate of the people of this country. I run the country from that thought. We take steps thinking about the development and prosperity of the people, not when and who gave the advice. We understand well what is the welfare of the people of my country."
She said this at the inauguration of the newly constructed 72 km railway under the project of construction of dual gauge double line railway from Akhaura to Laksam in Comilla and conversion of existing railway to dual gauge on Thursday, July 20. The Prime Minister joined the function virtually from Gana Bhavan.
Sheikh Hasina said, "After BNP-Jamaat came to power, they wanted to close the railway line due to losses on the advice of the World Bank. They sent off the railway employees with a golden handshake, but did not explain their dues. Just then Awami League came to power. When Awami League came to power, we took steps to improve the railways. Then we came again in 2009 and made them separate ministries. I saw that we cannot improve the railways unless there is a separate ministry and there is no separate allocation for them in the budget."
Highlighting the damage to the railways at the hands of BNP, Sheikh Hasina said, "BNP is a terrorist group. BNP does not understand anything except terrorism. Bangabandhu, the founder of BNP, was involved in various murders, including the killing of four leaders. After that, BNP leader Khaleda Zia also walked the same path. In 2014-15, the party destroyed railway lines in different parts of the country. It committed arson."
The 72 km stretch from Akhaura to Laksam was earlier a railway line. Now it has been made into two lanes. Project related persons say that through this, the travel time of inter-city trains on the Dhaka-Chittagong route will be reduced from a quarter of an hour to an hour. Once only meter gauge trains could run on this line. However, since the opening of two lanes, broad gauge trains can also run there along with meter gauge.
