Sylhet Bureau :
The first regional meeting of the committee to prepare a White Paper on the state of Bangladesh’s economy was held in Sylhet on Wednesday. Stakeholders from different sectors in Sylhet division expressed their opinions in presence of the committee’s head Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
In the meeting, participated by over 300 people, 70 of them discussed different economic aspects of the region including tea, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, communication, remittances etc.
After the meeting, Dr Debapriya spoke with the journalists describing the aspects of the meeting.
He said, “It was a very meaningful and successful discussion. Regional and local problems have come to the fore in the discussion, as well as problems we discuss at the national level were reflected.”
Debapriya said, “How big projects have been taken up for the development of this region but remain incomplete came at the discussion. Besides, environmental calamities such as floods, and stone extraction were discussed.” “The discussion of the backward people of the region has come up big. On one side are the disabled people and the transgender community, on the other are the indigenous and the hill people’s issue come up to the discussion,” he said. The CPD fellow added, “Youth employment, skill shortages, propensity to migrate abroad also noted in the discussion. There have also been many proposals regarding the role of the citizens of the country and how the country can be moved forward in the coming days through the impact of recent mass uprising.”
“One of the most interesting discussions that took place was how civil servants became businessmen and transformed into politicians. On the other hand, how businessmen have become politicians and vice versa was discussed,” he said.
Pointing out that people discussed about fear and trust crisis, he said, “This should not spoil our future prospects in any way. We all have to collectively hold on to this new potential of Bangladesh and advance the future.”
About the work plan of the committee, he said, “Based on the discussion, we will try to uncover the processes of money laundering, bank loans not being returned, taxes not being paid, thefts in government institutions and other problems.”
“With the finding, all the reforms that are being undertaken in the next budget or the coming days, or all the political activities that will take place, can work in favour of solving them,” he said.
