Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked the fresh BCS cadres to work with specific plans to ensure continued sustainable development in the country.

“You (fresh BCS officers) have to be watchful that country’s development is continued and sustainable, which requires work with specific plans,” she said.

The premier was addressing as the chief guest the concluding and certificate distribution ceremony of the 75th basic training course for the BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) officers at the Osmani Smriti Auditorium here.

A total of 602 officers from 19 cadres have received the six-month training.

At the same function, the prime minister also inaugurated five development schemes that included, upgrading the Government Employee Hospital into 500-bed, 15-storey BPATC Dormitory Building, newly constructed Cumilla and Tangail Circuit Houses and GEMS (Government Employee Management System) software under the Public Administration Ministry.

Describing the new officers as the main soldiers in transforming the country into developed, prosperous and Smart Bangladesh by 2041, Sheikh Hasina asked them to work in such a way so the country never falls behind.

“We have taken Bangladesh in a dignified position by working day and night. Make sure that Bangladesh never lags behind,” she said.

“I have no demand for my own, but I want to fulfill the dream of my father (Bangabandhu) that is to change the fate of the countrymen and improve their lives,” she added.

The prime minister instructed the new officers to formulate each development plan focusing on the protection of the environment alongside bringing economic emancipation of the commoners.

“We have to make development protecting the rivers, canals, ponds, beels, and water bodies. So, take development plans keeping that in mind,” she said.

The premier also asked the new BCS cadres to serve the country with utmost sincerity, patriotism and a sense of responsibility.

“The job is not merely a job, but rather to serve the country. You have to work for the people. You have to reach the services to the doorsteps of the people thinking of yourselves as the servants of the people,” she said.

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, its Senior Secretary Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury, and Rector (Secretary) of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) Md. Ashraf Uddin, spoke at the function.

Sheikh Hasina said her government has taken various initiatives to nourish the people having talents who are going through hardship due to poverty as they can make their fortunes.

The prime minister said they have formed the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust from which the poor students are getting assistance to continue their studies.

She said they also have formed the Prime Minister’s Education Trust from where scholarships are being given to the talented people for higher study abroad.

“We don’t want the meritorious students to be dropped out. We want to utilise their talents for the welfare of the country and its people,” she said.

She also said her government is working tirelessly to give the countrymen facilities guaranteed by the Constitution.

The prime minister however cautioned the government officers that conspiracy is being hatched at home and abroad against the unprecedented development of Bangladesh, saying, “We have to march ahead confronting all the odds and conspiracies.”

She as well asked the government officers to work to increase food production by making people aware of cultivating crops on their fellow lands against the backdrop of the global food crisis and high inflation.

The premier said Bangladesh will face no trouble if it can maintain food security with growing more food.

She assured the people that there is nothing to worry about the forex reserve as long as Bangladesh has food in stock.

Sheikh Hasina, also President of the ruling Awami League (AL), said the next general election is approaching nearer, adding that if the people vote for AL, they will remain in power.

“We have proved that we can reach desired destination if we march with specific plans as Bangladesh has now been established as a developing nation,” she said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh will step forward into prosperity utilising the scopes and confronting the challenges appeared before the country after getting the status of a developing nation.

She said the BNP-Jamaat and their like-minded governments did not anything for the welfare of the country during their 29 years tenure from 1975-96 (after assassination of the Father of the Nation on August 15, 1975) and 2001-2008 rather they made their own fortunes.

“Bangladesh could not go forward in 29 years and the target of the Liberation War was not fulfilled,” she said.

She said her government has now transformed the country into a Digital Bangladesh and a developing nation as they considered power as a scope to serve the people, not to make own fortune.

-BSS.