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Sunday | September 20, 2026 | Dhaka

‘PM believes in liberal politics, not vengeance’

 Staff Reporter
 Published: 12:01 AM, 20 September 2026

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan on Saturday urged officials of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) to follow the directives of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and make the best use of the country’s limited resources in implementing development projects.

Speaking at a discussion meeting on LGED’s development activities at the LGED building in the city’s Agargaon area , the minister said Tarique Rahman practises politics with a liberal outlook, not one of vengeance.

“If you work according to his directives, the people will reap the benefits in the future,” he said.
Moyeen Khan said the key to developing the country’s rural infrastructure lies with the roughly 5,600 LGED officials. “Development will happen if the key is turned the right way, and it will stall if it is turned wrongly,” he said.

He stressed that implementation matters most, warning that plans on paper yield no results without it. Noting Bangladesh’s small size and large population, he asked executive and assistant engineers to work within resource constraints. “If a project needs Tk 10 crore, try to complete it within Tk 7 or 8 crore,” he said.

Referring to the previous 17 years, he said everyone knows how resources were wasted and by whom. He said it is the duty of those in charge to protect and properly use public resources, and that officials should be motivated by a belief that they are serving the people.

The minister also credited BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and former prime minister Khaleda Zia for their roles in rural infrastructure development. He said Khaleda Zia took the initiative to establish LGED about 35 years ago, and that rural Bangladesh today looks very different from then. He said he introduced the concept of “bottom-up planning” after Khaleda Zia gave him charge of the planning ministry, and expressed satisfaction that LGED has now adopted it.

Recalling his early political career, Moyeen Khan said he walked around 300 kilometres when he entered politics about 35 years ago, but campaigned by car in the February 12 election. He said every road in his constituency now falls under LGED.

On officials’ welfare, he said the government is aware of their concerns over benefits and mobility and is considering aligning their facilities with those of equivalent-rank officials in other departments, acting “as a guardian”. But he said limited resources mean not all demands can be met at once.

He also spoke about lawmakers’ workload, saying that although their main duty is legislation, in Bangladesh’s reality they are called on for help at all hours, such as arranging ambulances and doctors for constituents at midnight. Their facilities should reflect this reality, he said.

Calling on all to work with the country’s economic realities in mind, he said millions of people are still struggling. “The government wants to work with the officials in the field, keeping in mind how Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is working for the welfare of the people,” he said.

State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam, Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hasan and LGED Chief Engineer Md Belal Hossain were among those present.