Fund for polls, not for bridge

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that the government had taken a strategy to collect electoral expenses in the name of raising fund for Padma bridge.
“The government has created a craze among people saying that the Padma bridge would be built with local financing. This is nothing but a tactic to collect funds for the election campaign,” he said while addressing a symbolic hunger strike in front of the National Press Club.
The BNP unit of Dhaka-18 constituency organised the programme demanding immediate release of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader SM Jahangir.
In his speech, Fakhrul said, “The election is nearing and the Awami League government is planning to collect money from people's pockets to contest the election.”
With the World Bank cancelling its loan for the bridge, this would be an opportunity for them [Govt] to steal money, he added.
The government asked school children to save their allowances and teachers of Jagannath University raise Tk 1 crore for the bridge, said the BNP leader, claiming, “This is how they [Govt] have started extortion across the country.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently in parliament unveiled a roadmap for constructing the Padma bridge with local fund.
Fakhrul further claimed that businesspeople were blaming AL-backed syndicates for the price hike of rice, lentils, oil and other essentials ahead of Ramadan.
He also held nepotism responsible for the unrest in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. The BNP leader said the government had ruined the congenial atmosphere in top educational institutions through partisan recruitment.
Party leaders Zainul Abdin Farroque, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and Shahid Uddin Chowdhruy Annee, among others, were present in the programme chaired by Mizanur Rahman Mizan.