Parliamentary caucus needed to develop Char areas: Deputy speaker

Deputy Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah has said that a parliamentary caucus comprised of parliamentarians responsive to the woes of char people needs to be formed.

He also pointed out that the National Char Alliance has been advocating for establishing a Char Foundation or Char Board to oversee spending of the budgetary allocations for char areas.

According to him, fulfilling this demand will ensure desired pace of development in char areas of the country, reads a press release.

He made the remarks on Sunday while speaking as the chief guest at the online national workshop on char development, organised by Shamunnay and National Char Alliance.

Eminent economist and former governor of Bangladesh Bank Professor Dr Atiur Rahman presented the keynote paper at the workshop.

In his keynote paper, Dr Atiur Rahman pointed out the need to prioritise the char agenda in the post-pandemic economic recovery. He emphasised the need to come up with development projects in the Annual Development Program (ADP) of the government specifically for char areas and urged parliamentarians to ensure such allocations in the budget of the coming 2021-22 fiscal year.

Workshop participants discussed about effects of the pandemic-induced economic slowdown on char people and about what these people need to cope with this shock.

Chairman of Rajbari District Council and Chairperson of Rajbari District Char Alliance Fakir Abdull Zabbar and Practical Action Country Director Shawkat A Begum were present at the workshop as special discussants.

Representatives of national and international development organisations working for char development and district level char alliance representatives participated in the workshop as well.