PM wants all to work together against corruption, social injustice

Prime Minister SheikhHasina today sought cooperation from all including lawmakers, public representatives and noted personalities irrespective of parties and opinions to work in unison to stamp-out irregularities, injustices and corruption from the society for continuation of the development.

“I seek cooperation from all including from the lawmakers, public
representatives irrespective of parties and opinions to work together to
put an end to the social irregularities including corruption,” she said.

The premier said these in the parliament while replying to a
supplementary question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Begum Rawshan Ara
Mannan (women seat-47) in the question-answer session slated for her.
Sheikh Hasina, also Leader of the House and Awami League President,
has sounded a note of warning of taking stern action against those who
would be found involved in committing corruptions and crimes
irrespective of their political affiliation lead to creating irregularities and
injustices in the society.

Sheikh Hasina said, “If anyone of my party is involved in crimes, I will not
spare him or her. I’m currently not sparing any of them and will continue it in
the days to come. Punishment should begin from own home which I have
already initiated. ”

None will be spared in case of committing crimes, the PM warned, saying that
action has even been taken against members from the law enforcement agencies
in this regard.

The prime minister also called upon the lawmakers and local public
representatives to form committee in each of the areas involving noted
personalities from the society, teachers, and guardians to ward off any sorts of
irregularities and injustice in the society.

She thanked the female lawmaker for putting forward the question whether the
government has any plan to form committee in each of the areas to take action
against those who are hatching conspiracy to make a halt the ongoing
development of the country and to stop social crimes such as corruption,
torture on women and children.

“We are getting enough honour from foreign countries due to the huge socio-
economic development of the country and for continuation of the admiration,
we should eliminate injustice from the society,” she continued.

About the government’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ against corruption, the premier
said, “We will not commit corruption and wouldn’t allow others in doing so.”

Terming both bribe taker and bribe giver criminals, she said both should bring
to book, adding, “We will also take action against the instigators and patrons
of the criminals.”

Replying to the starred question no-1 from the Jatiya Party lawmaker Begum
Rawshan Ara Mannan, the premier also said, “Our government is committed
to establish an administrative framework based on the rule of law to ensure
socio-economic development and public welfare and to form welfare state as
well.”

Spelling out her government’s initiative to pursue the ‘zero tolerance policy’
against corruption, she said, “We have a special plan to reduce corruption to
zero level by strengthening the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and public
awareness campaign, and also using the modern information technology.”

The premier said the corruption rate has been reduced due to the anti-graft
drives and huge awareness campaign against the corruption conducted by the
enforcement teams of the ACC.

Recommendations to stop corruption and formulation of work plan prepared
by the ACC will also contribute to curb corruption in different departments
and divisions of the ministries to stop corruption in the concerned
organizations, she opined.

Highlighting her government’s initiatives to make the ACC activities more
dynamic, the premier said, “We have increased divisional offices to eight from
six and coordinated district offices to 36 from 22 and increased it manpower to
2146 from 1274.”

A three-year plan titled “Strengthening the Anti-Corruption Commission” has
already been adopted with taking measures including setting up IT Support
Service System and ACC’s own digital forensic lab and IPTV, she said.

Once the plan is implemented the accountability and transparency of the ACC
officials and employees will be increased, she added.

The premier said there is no need to form separate organization to stop
corruption.