'Launch e-governance to ensure transparency, curb corruption'
Staff Correspondent
Sajib Wajed Joy, son of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, yesterday suggested launching e-governance in the country to ensure transparency and accountability in government machineries, increase efficiency of the law enforcement agencies and to combat terrorism."I believe e-governance will eventually help eliminate corruption, which has become the number one problem today as the government has failed to curb it," he told a seminar at the National Press Club in the city. The Awami League has a plan to incorporate e-governance issue into its election manifesto, he added. Joy, a US-educated computer engineer, presented the keynote paper in the seminar titled 'Potentials and challenges of Information Technology for the future of Bangladesh'. The AL's sub-committee on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) organised the seminar, with former VC of Rajshahi University Saidur Rahman Khan in the chair. "My goal is that all transactions with the government can be completed online without you having to wait in line and bribe everyone from the peon to the secretary to do something as mundane as filing your tax returns," Joy said. Putting government information such as budgets and expenditure online will ensure transparency and accountability and at the same time creating a nationwide database and network for the police will help increase the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies and improve law and order, he said. Criticising the BNP-Jamaat alliance government for its wrong policy for the ICT sector and its failure in the power sector, Joy said the previous AL government had taken up projects to generate 15,000 MW additional electricity in next five years, but this government has failed to add a single megawatt of power to the national grid. During the rule of BNP-Jamaat alliance, corruption has gripped all sectors of the government, including the ICT sector, he said. "Eighteen crore taka from the research and development funds have simply disappeared and hundreds of crores of taka have been wasted by the ICT ministry," he added. Joy also suggested continuing infrastructure development and tax cuts, which were initiated during the previous government, and setting up funds to finance promising IT start-ups in the country. Associate professors of BUET Dr Habibur Rahman and Dr Munaj Ahmed Nur took part in the discussion.
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