PM reiterates tax rebate on donations

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government would give tax rebate on the donations to be made to education and health sectors.
She said this when a delegation of Maulana Bhasani Science and Technology University (MBSTU) led by its Vice Chancellor Prof Dr M Nurul Islam, met her at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the morning.
Talking to the delegation, the premier urged the country's affluent section of people and institutions to come forward with financial donations to the health and education sectors for national development.
She said her government attaches top priority to the education sector, especially to science and technology-based education, for the country's development.
“There's no alternative to having skill on science and technology for development,” Hasina was quoted by her Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad as saying.
Hasina reaffirmed her government's commitment to maintain congenial academic atmosphere in educational institutions at any cost and sought support from teachers in this regard.
She said the last AL government had taken a project to establish 12 science and technology universities, but the BNP-Jamaat government, after assuming power, shelved it on political ground.
The present government, however, has restarted the project, she said.
Hasina also mentioned the newly formed Education Assistance Trust Fund with Tk 1,000 crore for providing free education to the poor students up to the graduate level.
The delegation apprised the prime minister of various problems of the university. Hasina said she would look into the matters.
They said the MBSTU opened a number of new departments, including Criminology and Police Science.
Paying tributes to the memory of great leader Maulana Bhasani, she said she herself would take care of the university.