Online Desk :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reiterated her firm conviction to fight irregularities and corruption in the society.
“Now we’ve taken steps that by no means we will condone corruption,” she said, reports UNB.
The premier said this while addressing the signing ceremony of the Annual Performance Agreement (APA) of the ministries and divisions for the 2024-2025 fiscal year at Shapla Hall of the Prime Minister’s Office.
In the function, the APA Award for FY 2022-23 and Integrity Award for FY 2023-24 were distributed among the government offices for their excellent performance in APA implementation and rendering services respectively.
The prime minister received the APAs from the secretaries of the ministries and divisions. A total of 52 ministries and divisions signed APAs with the Cabinet Division.
Citing that the government announced a ‘zero tolerance policy’ against corruption, she said,”We’ll take proper actions wherever any irregularity is seen.”
The PM said she doesn’t believe that if action is taken against corruption, the blame would be shifted to her government. A few people commit corruption, but many people are blamed for it.
“This is why proper actions will be taken against those who get involved in corruption. I don’t care what blame would be given to the government,” she said.
Hasina said she wants to create scopes to work for the welfare of the people by correcting society further.
She said the government wants to build a corruption-free society and also paid attention to enhancing the quality and skills of the government officials.
She asked every ministry to enhance monitoring on its subordinate offices up to field-level offices to ensure good governance. “The top side (of the administration) is very good. Some problems occur at the bottom,” she added.
Hasina asked the authorities concerned to take the preparation in advance to face probable floods saying that a lasting flood might hit the country this time.
She also asked the government officials to practice austerity, work to boost food production, complete the implementation of unfinished projects speedily, and enhance monitoring to stop wastage of resources and check corruption.
Don’t be nervous seeing newspaper: PM to govt officials
The PM asked the government officials not to be nervous or worried, seeing anything in the newspapers.
“There is nothing for you to be nervous or embarrassed by seeing what is written in the newspapers. Rather, you should check if there is any authenticity of it (the news). If it has no authenticity, dump it straight to the dustbin and you don’t even need to read it,” she said.
PM blasts female students for calling themselves Razakars:
The prime minister criticised the female students of Dhaka University’s Ruqayyah Hall, who chanted slogans by calling themselves Razakars (collaborators of Pakistani forces in 1971).
“I felt sorry when I heard yesterday the students of Ruqayyah Hall calling themselves razakars. Do they know what had taken place there on March 25, 1971? Some 300 girls were killed and 40 girls were raped and taken to the Pakistani camps,” she said.
Citing several gruesome incidents carried out by the Pakistani forces in 1971, she said the female students didn’t see these oppressions on streets in 1971. “So, they don’t feel ashamed of calling themselves Razakars,” she added.
The PM said it is unfortunate that girls now chant such slogans. “What country are we in? What spirit do they believe in? What lesions did they learn? What did they learn? It is my question,” she added.
The cabinet division has signed the APAs with the ministries and divisions and now the ministries and divisions will sign the APAs with their subordinate bodies including divisional, district and upazila-level offices of the government.
In the function, Labour and Employment Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain received the Integrity Award 2023-24.
The Power Division has attained the first Award in the APA implementation for 2022-2023, while the Public Administration and the Energy and Mineral Resources Division gained the second and third position respectively.
The ministries and divisions that attained fourth to tenth position in the implementation of APA are the Water Resources Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, the Bridges Division, the Road Transport and Highways Division, the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division and the Finance Division.
Public Administration Minister Farhad Hossain spoke on the occasion, while Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain delivered the welcome speech.
Labour and Employment Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain and Power Division Senior
Secretary Md Habibur Rahman expressed their feelings at the function.
The government introduced the result-oriented APA method in the public administration in the 2014-2015 fiscal year to enhance institutional efficiencies and thus ensure transparency, accountability and optimum utilization of resources.