PM urges countrymen to face any situation with courage

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the countrymen to face any situation with courage, as Bangladesh must march ahead, confronting all the hurdles like arson violence.

“Bangladesh is progressing ahead and will move further by overcoming man-made disasters like arson violence alongside the natural ones. I call upon the countrymen to face the situation with courage,” she said on Sunday.

She made the remarks, addressing a civic rally after the inauguration of the newly constructed Ghorashal-Palash Urea Fertiliser Factory (GPUFF), the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, on the GPUFF premises in Palash Upazila in Narsingdi.

The Prime Minister said she has to move ahead, confronting various impediments.

“None can stop Bangladesh’s journey towards development,” she said.

The Prime Minister said the BNP-Jamaat clique has again started arson terrorism, like in 2013–14, ahead of the national election.

“They have again started the arson terrorism. I don’t know when their conscience will rise and will be sensible,” she said.

The Prime Minister reminded all that the Awami League was not able to come to power in the 2001 general election despite getting maximum votes due to local and foreign conspiracies.

Sheikh Hasina said the Awami League did not come to power at that time as she refused to sell gas at the request of America, saying that they would sell gas only after meeting the local demand and keeping it in storage for 50 years.

“Bangabandhu’s daughter has no intention to come to power after selling the country’s resources,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina also called upon the people not to leave even a single inch of land uncultivated so that Bangladesh would never need to beg anyone for food.

She said Bangladesh today is a developing country that would move forward further and be Smart Bangladesh, having a smart population, smart government, smart economy, and smart society.

The environment-friendly, energy-saving, and modern technology-based factory with a production capacity of 924 thousand MT of fertiliser annually was built at a cost of Tk 155 billion on 110 acres of land.

Of the total cost, the government provided Tk 45.8021 billion, and Tk 109.2 million was obtained through business loan schemes from JICA, HSBC, and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Limited.

The prime minister inspected the factory before its inauguration.

She also released commemorative stamps, opening envelopes, and a special canceller marking the opening of the GPUFF.

A video documentary on the project was screened at the function.

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, MP, State Minister Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, MP, Anwarul Ashraf Khan, MP, and Senior Secretary Zakia Sultana, spoke on the occasion.

The premier later addressed a grand rally at the Mosleh Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium here where she also inaugurated a number of development projects in Narsingdi in the afternoon.

With the start of operation of the fertiliser factory, the dependency on imported fertiliser will reduce significantly as the local factories will produce together 1.924 million MT against the country’s total annual demand of 2.6 million metric tonnes.

The local factories are currently producing about 1.0 million metric tonnes, while the rest of the annual demand is met through imports.

The factory will create 30,000 jobs, according to the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

It is the first fertiliser factory in Bangladesh where the environmental pollutant carbon dioxide (CO2) will be captured from the primary reformer flue gas and the production of urea fertiliser will increase (about 10 pc) by using the captured CO2.

This is a “modern, sophisticated, energy-efficient, and green” fertiliser factory in the country, which will reduce the import of urea fertiliser and save hard-earned foreign currency.