(The following is the excerpts of text of budget speech by Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in Parliament on Thursday, 5th June 2014.
(From previous issue)
Power and Energy
Madam Speaker
84. Electricity: The ongoing progress in power generation will continue during our current tenure as well. InsAllah, with the implementation of medium and long term plans electricity will reach every household within the next five years. You might be aware that we had set a target of generating 20,000 MW of electricity by 2021. Considering the growing demand and increasing generation capacity, we have re-fixed this target at 24,000 MW. Several milestones have been identified to achieve the changed target. I am providing you the estimates of the year 2017 because the centres for which contract has been made will go for generation by that time.
? To take initiatives, apart from increasing domestic production, to generate and allocate power through bilateral, multilateral and regional agreements with neighboring India, Bhutan and Nepal
? To raise generation capacity to 18,162 MW of electricity by 2017
? To establish coal based power plants with a generation capacity of 1426 MW by 2017 which will shift the burden from gas which contributes to 78 percent of power generation in the country
? To establish two nuclear power plants at Ruppur with a total generation capacity of 2000 MW of electricity 44
? To produce 800 MW of electricity by 2015 using renewable energy. A special fund has been established to finance renewable energy based power plants. The size of the fund will stand at TK.400 crore with this year’s allocation
? To install more than 60,000 pre-paid metres to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability in power management.
85. Energy: We will ensure reasonable extraction and utilization of natural gas. Steps are underway to enhance the capacity of BAPEX. Special emphasis will be laid on discovery of new gas and oil fields. In addition, scope of assistance and cooperation with international organisations to explore new gas and oil fields in the coastal and deep sea areas will be widened. Alongside, we will take necessary steps to dig 21 wells in order to enhance gas generation capacity by 2015-16. 86. We will take initiatives to reduce the misuse of gas by enhancing managerial efficiency in this sector. Import of LNG from abroad will continue. We are, however, considering the establishment of an LNG terminal and necessary infrastructure in Maheshkhali Island. 87. A separate booklet with updated status of power and energy sector has been placed before this august House.
Agriculture, Water Resource and Rural Development
Madam Speaker
88. Agriculture: Bangladesh achieved outstanding success in agriculture sector during our last term. We are committed to continue this trend in future. I firmly believe that Bangladesh will become a major exporter of agricultural products in the near future. I want to assure everyone associated with agriculture that all our policies and strategies to revitalise this sector will continue in future. Let me now present a brief account of the major steps that we are planning to undertake for the development of this sector.
n Subsidies for fertilizer, seeds, irrigation and other agricultural inputs will continue. I propose an allocation of Tk. 9,000 crore for this sector in FY 2014-15.
n Share-croppers will continue to be provided with collateral-free agricultural loan. Moreover, agricultural loan and input assistance will continue. In addition, a database containing all information of farmers will be established
n Agricultural Rehabilitation Assistance and Incentive Programme will continue as before ? Supply of high yielding seeds to the farmers will be increased further.
n Special emphasis will be given on innovation and use of organic technology and genetic engineering
n Development of agro- based industry will be encouraged with right incentives
n Agricultural research will be given highest priority as before. Like jute, steps will be taken to decode genome sequence of other cash crops. Again, research for inventing drought, salinity and water logging resistant high yielding varieties will be intensified. Special attention should be given to minimize the adverse effect of climate change while conducting agricultural research and emphasis should be laid on faster innovation of technology.
89. Fisheries and Livestock: The fisheries and livestock sector plays an important role in removing malnutrition by way of meeting the protein demand of our people. Side by side this sector, apart from contributing substantially to the GDP, is making remarkable contribution towards poverty reduction through employment generation. This sector is making substantial contribution to export sector as well. We have taken various steps for the overall development of this sector which will continue in 46 future as well. Let me enumerate the policies that we will adopt for the development of this sector:
n Programs for increasing commercial production of egg, fish, meat, milk etc. will continue
n Ongoing integrated actions to increase the production of national fish Hilsha will continue
n The National Shrimp Policy, 2014 will be formulated as soon as possible
n Steps will be taken to ensure sustainable management of aquatic resources in the newly earned 1 lakh 11 thousand 631 square kilometers of territorial sea at the Bay of Bengal. For this purpose we will take initiatives to identify fishing grounds, take stock of various species and set the maximum acceptable limit of fishing
n Genuine fishermen will be registered and provided with identity cards
n Cooperative pisciculture will be encouraged
n Manufacturing vaccine for domestic animals, providing veterinary treatment, developing species through artificial insemination will continue.
Madam Speaker
90. Food Security: We have been attaching priority to food security since assumption of office. Necessary allocations have been made to this sector to operationalise the National Food Policy and Bangladesh Country Investment Plan, CIP, 2009. There was adequate supply of food at fair price in the market throughout our last term because of our efficient management which we want to continue in future as well. In the present term, our aim will be to ensure food safety and its equitable distribution. A piece of legislation titled The Pure Food Act, 2013 was enacted last October. Framing of rules under this new law and the establishment of 47 Pure Food Authority are underway. We expect your active support to our crusade against food adulteration.
91. While ensuring stable food price we ensured fair price of agricultural products. Procurement of food at fair price will continue in future as well. In the last term, we had a plan to enhance the storage capacity of food godowns to 20 lakh MT by 2015 to tackle any emergency. The storage capacity of food go-downs has, by now, gone up to 19.38 lakh MT which will, InsAllah, stand at 25 lakh MT by 2020.
Madam Speaker
92. Water Resource Management: Appropriate water resource management is vitally important for the agro-based riverine Bangladesh.
We are also highly vulnerable to the risks of climate change because of the fact that Bangladesh is situated at the downstream of the big rivers. This makes proper water management all the more important for the very existence of ours. A number of projects have been taken up to restore the navigability of big rivers with special emphasis on capital dredging, flood control, enhancing the water retention capacity of the rivers, extending irrigation facilities, prevention of saline water intrusion, desertification and land reclamation from sea. Now I lay before the House our future action plans on water resources management.
n The on-going negotiations in regional and international forums to ensure a proper and equitable share of 54 common rivers flowing between Bangladesh and India will continue. In the meantime, a framework for water sharing of Teesta and Feni Rivers has been prepared. The joint water resources management activities along with generation of hydro-electricity by making reservoir at the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins are well on course. We have a plan to preserve and maintain nearly 52 km of river banks by FY 2015-16 to protect our valuable lands, border outposts and important infrastructures from river erosion.
n We will make 1.63 lakh hectares of land free from flood and expand irrigation facilities to 54 thousand hectares of land in the next five fiscal years
n We will excavate 192 km and re-excavate 2,111 km of irrigation canals. In addition, 204 irrigation structures will be built along with the repair of an additional 279 structures. Furthermore, 6709 km of discharge canals will be excavated and, where necessary, re-excavated.
n We will construct 1,209 km of embankment, repair and maintain over 15,358km, construct and repair over 4,540 flood control structures and preserve, repair and maintain, as per necessity, 1,443 km of embankment ? We will carry out capital dredging in the major rivers like the Ganga-Padma, the Brahmaputra- Jamuna and the Meghna. Side by side, regular dredging will continue in the Buriganga, the Turag, the Pungliand the Dhaleshshari rivers ? Steps will be taken to reclaim land from sea by constructing Swandip-Urirchar -Noakhali cross dam, infrastructure and circular dams around char Alexander, char Mainka -char Islam-char Montaj cross-dam to prevent intrusion of saline water. We will also build cross dam in the coastal areas to reclaim 20,000 hectares of land
n We have installed modern equipment at 38 points which can forecast weather three days in advance. In future we will be able to provide weather forecast 7 days in advance
n Efforts to build the Ganges barrage will continue ? All necessary measures to develop the haors of Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria, Kishorganj and Netrokona under the stewardship of the Haor Development Board will be taken. We will also take up dredging in baors to increase fish production, irrigation facilities and thereby generate employment.
93. We have undertaken a long term Sector Development Plan 2011-2025 for sustainable development of water and sanitation sector. Once the projects are completed, pure drinking water coverage in rural areas will go up to 93 percent from its present 88 percent. In addition, we will lay more emphasis on increasing dependency on surface water than on underground water.
Madam Speaker
94. Rural development: We believe in equitable development in all parts of the country. We want to narrow the existing gap between rural and urban areas in terms of development which will stem the tide of urban migration. Each union parishad will be transformed into a vibrant habitat with all modern civic amenities. We will connect 2 thousand 51 growth centres with district headquarters. Modern education, electricity, health care, pure drinking water, sanitation, agro-based industry will be made available in rural areas that will facilitate establishment of small township and suburbs.
95. We want to remain true to the pledges that we have made to the nation in our election manifesto. We are moving forward with a master plan spanning up to 2021 to develop a rural road network. We will build five thousand kilometres of new road, repair and maintain ten thousand km of pucca road, build, repair and maintain thirty thousand metres of bridges and culverts. All these initiatives, we believe, will widen road network coverage from 32.15 percent to 33.80 percent.
Climate Change and Environment
Madam Speaker
96. Action Plan for Climate Change: Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries exposed to global climate change. We are leading the least developed countries in international negotiations on mitigation of adverse impacts of climate change. We will sincerely take forward all our initiatives to combat the impending dangers of climate change and preserve environment.
97. We will take initiatives to evaluate and update Bangladesh Climate
Change Strategy and Action Plan, 2009 on the basis of our need. To implement this Action Plan, we allocated Tk. 2,555 crore in the last five fiscal years. However, this allocation will be reduced in future and instead steps will be taken to increase Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) established with the assistance of our development partners. Our development partners have already provided a total amount of US Dollar186.9 Million in BCCRF fund. Besides, we have started working on the implementation of Road Map for National Adaptation Plan as well as Road Map for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action, NAMA. We have formulated a Climate Fiscal Framework to ensure transparency and accountability in climate change related public spending.
98. Industrial effluent and waste from urban sewage is severely contaminating our river water and taking heavy toll on the aquatic environment and its surroundings. The level of pollution in rivers surrounding Dhaka is severe. That’s why we declared the Buriganga, Shitalakshya, Balu and Turag as ecologically critical water bodies to protect them from pollution. We have prepared a draft instruction manual with the guidelines to protect environment and control pollution of the rivers. Eco-tax will be imposed on the polluters to get rid of this situation. Arrangements have already been made to transfer the tanneries from Hajaribagh to Savar by March 2015.
99. We will continue our all-out support to the programme for converting wastes to compost fertilizer with the wastes collected from all city corporations and municipalities in an eco-friendly waste management system. The action of conversion of existing brick kilns to hi-tech environment-friendly brick-kilns will be carried on within a specified period of time. To reduce the severity of air pollution, 11 Quality Air Monitoring Stations (QAMS) will continue to monitor the quality of air in the atmosphere.
100. Afforestation and preservation of bio-diversity: As we did in the previous term, we are attaching considerable importance to the expansion of afforestation and preservation of bio-diversity. Emphasis will be laid on sustained afforestation in the coastal and char areas. Internal communication and storage of agricultural produces pose serious problems
51 the people of char areas together with the scarcities of other civic amenities. To overcome the situation I have proposed to allocate TK.50 crore as block allocation a little while ago. We have taken initiatives to harmonise our National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, 2020 with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 drawn up under the United Nations Biodiversity Charter.
101. Combating Disaster: During our last tenure, besides laying emphasis on inclusive growth we undertook programmes for rescuing the victims of different natural disasters and providing them with assistance for rehabilitation. Under this programme construction of cyclone shelters, cyclone resistant buildings and flood shelters is well in progress. We are sending warning messages to the inhabitants of flood-prone Shirajganj and cyclone-prone Cox’s Bazar with the help of Grameen Phone and Teletalk. People can now access latest weather forecasts and bulletins from any mobile operator via Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
102. We have started buying necessary equipment to run rescue programme during earthquake and other natural disasters. Besides, efforts are going on for determining the disaster and calamity risks. We are also working to formulate practical guide and local action plan to reduce these risks. In the meantime, we have published a countrywide earthquake risk map. Contingency plan for Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet City Corporations has been drawn up to mitigate the possible damages in the event of an earthquake.
Physical Infrastructure
Madam Speaker
103. Development and Expansion of Communication
Infrastructure: Thanks to collective efforts, our economy has made commendable progress in the last five years. In tandem, the necessity of roads, railway and water ways communication has gone up high. Existing road infrastructure is insufficient to keep pace with the growing economic activities. We will, therefore, continue to repair, maintain, improve and expand existing roads on a priority basis. Our priorities for this tenure are:
Contract signing for the construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge will be done this month and construction will be completed by 2018
Construction of a tunnel underneath the Karnaphuli river in Chittagong Conversion of nationally important highways into four lanes gradually Continuation of investment to reform and modernise railways Construction of circular rail road track around Dhaka city.
Construction of the 3rd Sea port at Payra in Patuakhali.
Construction of a sea port and an LNG terminal at Moheshkhali Making Biman a profitable organisation by improving its management and enhancing the capacity of passenger transport.
104. The Padma Bridge: The construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge is our topmost priority. It will create a direct road link between 19 districts of south-west region and Dhaka along with northern region of Bangladesh. Once completed, this will induce a growth to the tune of 1.2 percent of GDP per year. Let me inform the House that the construction of Padma Bridge is underway despite myriads of difficulties. In the meantime, the land acquisition and rehabilitation activities of the project is about to finish. The construction of approach roads from both directions is progressing well. I hope the construction of main bridge will kick-start this month and the engagement of contractors for river training will take place in July-August.
105. Prevention of Traffic Congestion: At the very outset of my speech, I mentioned about the construction of flyovers along with other initiatives to mitigate traffic congestion in Dhaka city. Now, I would like
53 to share with you some other issues in this regard. We have taken proper initiatives to implement the MRT Line-6 project from Uttara to Motijheel under the supervision of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) as per plan. Meanwhile, the Metro Rail Act, 2014 has been sent to the cabinet for its approval. A contract has been signed with the investment partner to construct the 46.73 km. long Dhaka elevated express way from Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport to Kutubkhali of Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Besides, pre-feasibility study for 42 km long Dhaka-Ashulia elevated express way from Hazrat Shah Jalal (Ra) International Airport to Chandra under PPP has been completed. We have a plan to construct an international convention centre on the other side of the Buriganga and a fly-over starting from Shantinagar, crossing over the Buriganga to ensure faster communication with the convention centre.
106. Railway: We always laid special emphasis on railway communication as it is cheaper, safer and fuel efficient and this will continue in future. In recent times, groups working against the trial of war criminals went on a rampage to destroy this public property acquired with the tax payers money. We took proper steps to make good the damage done so far. However, I would like to say firmly that it is our bounden duty to protect and maintain this public property and we will not hesitate to take any stern legal action to protect our public properties in future.
107. Construction and reconstruction of 441 km rail line is under way.
In order to make railway communication between the two cities more punctual, we have taken initiatives to upgrade Dhaka-Chittagong corridor into double lines. Side by side, the construction of 2nd Bhairab and2nd Titas Rail Bridge is in progress. The Dhaka-Sylhet railway communication is extremely delicate and we have taken up a plan to revamp it. The feasibility of establishing a container terminal either at Shayestagonj or Srimangal will be assessed by conducting a survey. In this respect, the prospect of growing trading activities with Tripura and Karimgonj will be taken into consideration. We will construct in phases the Dhaka-Mongla and Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar rail lines.
108. Alongside the activities relating to making the railway commercially viable, we have a plan to take the general mass on board and to construct medical college, five star hotel, shopping mall etc. to ensure
54 the proper utilization of railway land. We have taken up the task of constructing an ISD in the vicinity of Dhirashram.
109. Water Transportation: During our last tenure, we have taken proper steps to rescue dried up rivers and river routes together with maintaining navigability. A River Protection Commission has been formed under the River Protection Commission Act, 2013 to prevent illegal encroachment, river pollution, illegal construction and other unlawful activities. These initiatives to develop water transport paid off as trade and commerce went unhindered during recent political unrest and blockade.
110. Port Infrastructure: In order to expand trade and commerce, development of Chittagong and Mongla Sea ports as well as land ports will continue. In the past, I talked about an initiative to construct a deepsea port in Sonadia of Cox’s Bazar under PPP. Due to lack of response from the private sector, steps have been taken to implement the project under Government to Government (G2G) arrangement. Besides, the Payra Port Authority Act, 2013 was enacted to establish a port at Payrain Patuakhali District.
111. Civil Aviation: In order to improve passenger service, two Boeing
777-300 aircrafts have been procured. Procurement of two Boeing 737-800 aircrafts is underway. Hopefully, another four Boeing 787-800 aircrafts will be added to the Biman fleet by 2019. However, in the management of Biman commercial interest should get precedence over other considerations. Appropriate steps have to be taken to reduce its losses. Alongside, the work for expansion and upgradation of other airports including Hazrat Shahajalal International Airport will continue. In the meantime construction of the second runway in Hazrat Shahjalal Airport has been taken up. The airport at Cox’s Bazar will be upgraded to an international one soon.
Housing and Planned Urbanisation
Madam Speaker
112. Planned Urbanisation: Planned urbanisation has become a big challenge for us because of the acceleration of population growth. Realizing the importance of planned urbanisation our government formulated Dhaka, Khulna and Chittagong Metropolis Detailed Area Plan (DAP) and Sylhet, Chittagong and Barisal Divisional Area Structural Plan in the last tenure. In our current tenure, we will modify Dhaka Detailed Area Plan (DAP) to make it more realistic and modern. To this end, we have started drafting DAP (2016-2035). The principal means of solving the problem of urbanisation is to build rural habitats encompassing a number of developed or densely populated villages and to create townships by linking them with the national highways. At the same time, ongoing project of building growth centres should be strengthened.
113. Ensuring Safe Drinking Water: Our government took the initiatives to increase the use of surface source of water instead of using underground water in urban areas. Recently, the second phase of Saydabad Water Treatment Plant project has been completed. With this, over 22.5 crore litres of water have been added to Dhaka WASA. At present, production capacity of pure water of Dhaka WASA has been increased to 242 crore litres. Now, Dhaka WASA has taken initiatives to implement the third phase of Padma (Jashaldia) Water Treatment Plant and Saydabad Water Treatment Plant. After completion of the third phase of water treatment plant project, we will ensure the use of 70 percent of water from surface sources and 30 percent from underground sources. Special attention is being given to the use of surface water sources while implementing the water supply projects in Sylhet, Barisal and Rajshahi.
114. Extension of Housing Facilities: We are committed to ensure
‘Housing for All’. Accordingly, we have started developing around 44,316 plots and also constructing 32,258 flats in Dhaka City as well as in different divisional and district towns. I hope, in the near future, the government will adopt and implement a Comprehensive National Urban Policy. Side by side, for the implementation of planned urbanisation and for ensuring the civic amenities, the government will take appropriate 56 steps to reduce traffic jam, enhance urban beautification and put in place improved sewerage system.
Digital Bangladesh
Madam Speaker
115. Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology Services:
At the beginning of my speech, I mentioned about our commitment for building digital Bangladesh. In the present tenure of our government, we will accelerate the development work for building the infrastructure of Hitech Park, Software Technology Park, ICT Incubator and Computer Village. At present, the programme for transforming 8000 rural post offices and 500 union post offices to E-centres is underway. Bangladesh is going to be connected soon with the second Submarine Cable Consortium as its member. Besides the massive expansion of the use of information technology in our education system, Bangladesh is holding the highest position in South Asia in terms of using information technology in the banking, medical, business and commerce and mass media sectors. A booklet containing the progress made so far in this sector and future programmes have been placed before this august House separately.
116. Science and Technology: Our government provides grants to encourage researchers to carry out research in science and technology. We will continue to provide scholarships and grants in this sector in the coming fiscal year. We have started establishing a National Marine Research Institute with a Marine Aquarium of international standard at Ramu in Cox’s Bazar for carrying out marine research. However, for expansion of science education and its quality, it is most important to reinvigorate science education at the secondary level.
Industrialization and Commerce
Madam Speaker
117. We all know that there is no alternative to industrialization if we mean to earn the status of a middle income country by 2021. Here, I would like to enumerate the strategies that the Government will consider as priority for employment generation and investment in the next five years as it did in its last term:
n Expanding physical infrastructure facilities
n Simplifying the rules and regulations
n Making One-Stop Service operational
n Creating investment-friendly political and social environment
n Diversifying export products
n Providing reasonable financial incentives to the investors
n Providing tax benefits and financial assistances to the entrepreneurs of industries like food and agro-processing, ship building, light engineering, pharmaceuticals, plastic, toy industry, household appliances, IT, leather and chemicals. At the same time, special tax benefits will be provided to the entrepreneurs for establishing industries outside the jurisdictions of city corporations.
n Providing a grant of Tk. 10 crore for establishing an Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology considering the potential of plastic based industry.
118. Minimum Wages: Since the day of its inception, Bangladesh
Awami League has been working for the greater welfare of the underprivileged farmers and workers in the society. Considering the contribution of garment workers to the national economy as well as the escalating costs of living, our government has re-fixed the minimum 58 wages by raising it to Tk. 5,300. To award minimum wages in line with the costs of living, inflation and GDP growth as well as to ensure safety and security in garment industry, a tripartite work plan has been initiated with the participation of the representatives from the government, owners and workers association. In this regard, the Accord signed between the BUET and EU at the initiative of ILO and the Alliance established at the initiative of the importers from the western hemisphere are helping us in identifying the factories with deficient facilities. We have strengthened the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments and we should take this initiative forward.
119. Small and Medium Enterprises: We will continue our support in terms of providing credit and refinancing facilities at a low rate of interest to help develop labour intensive small, medium and cottage industries. We will extend the credit facilities to women entrepreneurs as well. Side by side, we will encourage the expansion of internal and international markets of this industry.
120. Trade expansion: We have always laid emphasis on the improvement of the trade relation with the neighboring countries. Meanwhile, India has given us duty free and quota free access to its market for all commodities except for 25 items related to tobacco and liquor. We have sent an offer list of 476 commodities under an agreement to the TPS-OIC of the OIC member countries. Once the Agreement is implemented, Bangladesh will be able to increase its export to those member countries. We have also finalised the 4th round of tariff negotiation under Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA).
Tourism Industry: For the development of the tourism industry, we are taking necessary steps to improve and renovate tourism facilities of different areas of the country. Steps have been taken to develop exclusive tourist zones under the PPP initiative. A separate booklet containing detailed information on present initiatives and future plans for the development of tourism industry has been presented before this august House.
Madam Speaker
122.. Overseas Employment: Employment generation is one of the key elements of the total endeavours that are in place for eradicating poverty. With our whole-hearted efforts, around 24 lakh 50 thousand workers got overseas employment from January 2009 to December 2013. In order to develop skilled manpower to be sent abroad, 27 training centres and 5 institutes of marine technology are being established. The model of sending manpower abroad at low cost using Government to Government (G2G) method has already created a huge enthusiasm in other countries.
123. The system of migration management has been digitised to ensure security of life and livelihood of the migrant workers. For this, online registration has been made compulsory. In addition, the facilities for providing smart cards with finger prints, online visa revision and online lodgment of complaints by the deceived workers have been created. The draft Overseas Employment Policy, 2014 by amending the existing one is at the final stage.
124. We have taken several initiatives to expand the overseas labour market. During the last BNP led coalition Government, workers used to be sent to only 97 countries. Thanks to our successful labor diplomacy, we are now sending our workers to 159 countries in the world. Now-a-days around 87 lakh Bangladeshi workers are working abroad. So far we have opened 12 labour wings in our missions abroad and another 11 will be opened soon to expand our labour market.
Culture
Madam Speaker
125. We are committed to establish a non-communal and liberal democratic Bangladesh. In furtherance of this commitment, we have been patronising all efforts pertaining to the preservation of our traditional Bengali culture and heritage. And we will continue to do so in future as well. We will keep supporting all institutional endeavours meant to nourish Bangla language and literature, art and craft, music, open air
60 opera, drama, movie, folk art and creative pursuits. Adequate allocations have already been given for archeological excavation, renovation and preservation of archeological sites in different parts of the country to showcase the glorious history and heritage of Bangladesh to the rest of the world. At present preservation and renovation work is going on in Buddha Bihar at Paharpur, Shatgumbuz Mosque at Bagerhat, the Kantajeu Temple at Dinajpur and Mahasthangar at Bogra. We have a plan to establish cultural centres in some selected foreign cities to introduce our cultural heritage, art and craft and literature. In order to infuse dynamism into the development activities in our cultural front, I propose a block allocation of TK.100 crore in the budget for the next fiscal year.
Religion
Madam Speaker
126. As enunciated in the Election Manifesto, we are committed to ensure religious freedom of all citizens and to rem
