PM stresses power conservation again

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reminded ministers and top government officials of her earlier directive on power conservation.
At the weekly cabinet meeting, she told them to set the air conditioners in their offices above 25 degrees Celsius to save power. It was a prompt reaction when she noticed some ministers in suit and tie in this hot summer, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star.
The PM also advised them to wear summer clothes to work. When the whole country is experiencing an acute power shortage, they should set examples of careful use of power for others to follow, Hasina said at the meeting.
Speaking further on the issue, she said people in Japan and Singapore wore light clothes at work and fixed the temperature in air conditioners above 25 degrees Celsius to save power.
Hasina also asked the ministers and lawmakers to be sincere about joining parliament regularly and to make the House more vibrant, said Matia, also a member of the ruling Awami League Presidium.
The cabinet had a discussion on power generation from waste. As a by-product, this power generation will make waste management easier and save the environment from pollution.
Primarily, Chittagong and Rajshahi will be considered for setting up of waste-based power plants. Sources in the cabinet quoted Forest and Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud as saying that some foreign countries like Sweden and Italy had shown interest in setting up such power plants in Bangladesh.
The cabinet yesterday upgraded the rank of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman from secretary to cabinet secretary. The positions of PSC members were upgraded from joint secretary to the rank of secretary.
The cabinet finalised the decisions by approving the draft of the Members of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (Terms and Conditions for Service) (Amendment) Act, 2012.
The PSC chairman and members will enjoy the facilities of cabinet secretary and secretary, said Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan while briefing journalists after the meeting.
A cabinet secretary gets Tk 45,000 while a secretary Tk 40,000 per month, he added.
The cabinet also endorsed the proposals to declare 2nd October as "National Productivity Day" and 2nd January as "National Social Service Day".
It also approved a proposal to ratify the agreement on visa waiver signed by Bangladesh and Indonesia. Under the agreement signed in August 2010, people with diplomatic and official passports will no longer require visas to visit each other's country.