Ctg Correspondent: Information Minister and Joint General Secretary of Awami League (AL) Dr Hasan Mahmud on Saturday said that BNP is habituated to opening a complain box if any election comes in the country.

“They won in many local government elections. They made complains till the last moment before they won… this is the nature of BNP. They open a complaint box before elections,” he said.

Dr Hasan said this at a press briefing after visiting the development works of Port Connecting Road run by Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) at city’s Olonker circle area on Saturday morning.

In response to the question by journalist regarding BNP’s allegation that police were harassing its candidates, agents and party leaders in the upcoming CCC election, Dr Hasan said that they always try to make any election questionable, which gets rejected by people.

Dr. Hasan Mahmud said that Election Commission is conducting the elections and they are trying to perform their responsibilities..

“Like other city corporation and municipal elections in the country, CCC election will also be fair and neutral. The election of CCC will be held with EVM. So, just like other technology-dependent elections, it’s also going to be free and fair,” Dr Hasan said.

Mentioning that Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina is being admired all over the world today, the information minister said, “On Pakistani television talk-show discussions, intellectuals say, ‘please give us a Sheikh Hasina, and make our country Bangladesh.”

On various television talk-shows in India, their leading personalities also say that Bangladesh, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is surpassing India in terms of GDP growth rate and per capita income, he added.

He said that the whole country and world is admired Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but one party in the country can never appreciate. “BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, other leaders of his party and some well-known intellectuals cannot praise the government’s development,” he added.

“BNP doesn’t see the massive development that has taken place in the country; they are blind even though they have eyes. I will have expectations in the New Year, their eyes will not work blindly, they will see these developments with open eyes, this is also the expectation of the people in the country,” said the minister.

Terming Chattogram as the second largest city in the country, the AL joint secretary said that the country is developing along with the development of this port city. The development of Chattogram means the development of the whole country, he added.

“That is why Bangabandhu daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has always put importance to the development of Chattogram. A project is underway to reduce water logging in the port city at a cost of $1 billion,” he added.

Thanking CCC administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan, the information minister said that he has made arrangements to complete all the unfinished works in a short period of time with the help of contractors.

“Works of Bangabandhu Tunnel under the Karnafuli river, Port Connecting Road are progressing rapidly. We hope that we would be able to open the Karnafuli Tunnel next year. It is the first tunnel-road under a river in the subcontinent. There are no such tunnels in neighboring India, Pakistan or Nepal,” he added.

Dr. Hasan Mahmud said that work on the Bay Terminal in Chattogram has been started and if it is built, it will actually be another new port as like Chattogram port.

“It will be established as a much more powerful and much larger port than the present Chattogram port. Thus, the picture of the whole country has changed in the last 12 years,” he added.

CCC Administrator Khorshed Alam Sujan said that the people of the area have been in a lot of troubles over the Port Connecting Road for the last three years.

“We have fought a lot in the last six months; it is the lifeline of Chattogram, the means of direct communication with the rest of Bangladesh. This is one of the priorities of the Prime Minister,” he added.

Later the minister visited PahartaliHorseShoreLake.