Speaker, info boss fight over priority

Speaker Abdul Hamid and Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad yesterday got into an altercation over equal coverage of the treasury and opposition benches on the Sangsad Television.
“We must remember that I should act neutrally as the Speaker. I belong neither to the treasury bench nor the opposition. The Sangsad Television should air the participation of the opposition bench in the House proceedings,” said Hamid.
He was speaking before the signing of an agreement between Bangladesh Television and Sangsad Television at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
“If we telecast only prime minister's speeches on the Sangsad Television like the state-run BTV, our neutrality will be under question,” said the Speaker.
In an instant reaction, the information minister said the issue should be raised before the prime minister for a decision.
“We should go to the prime minister for her advice on this,” said the minister.
In response, the Speaker asked, “Why should we place the matter before the premier, if we can resolve it ourselves. We should not approach the prime minister for every issue.”
The prime minister was involved in the process of launching the Sangsad Television and gave an assurance of allocating money for it, said Hamid.
But the information minister reiterated the need for discussing the matter with the prime minister.
Abdus Shahid, chief whip of the treasury bench, said state-run televisions in many countries run independently but that doesn't happen in Bangladesh.
He doubted whether the Sangsad Television will run independently.
“We don't know whether the information ministry will impose any censorship on the Sangsad Television,” Shahid said.
Ashfaque Hamid, secretary of the parliament secretariat, and Kazi Abu Zafar, director general of BTV, were also present at the signing.
BTV will extend cooperation to the Sangsad Television in line with the agreement.