Cabinet's Final Nod To Surcharge On Cell Phone

The approval was given at the weekly meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the surcharge would be applicable on total amount of the mobile phone charge of the users.

The government envisaged the surcharge to create a fund of around taka 140 crore annually to be used for education and healthcare service purposes in the public sector.

The cabinet secretary said the cabinet returned the draft of "Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Act, 2015' for further scrutiny and examine the need of the amendment to the existing "Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Act, 2010".

The cabinet approved two proposals for ratification of two agreements signed between Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

One of the agreements is- "Agreement on Security Cooperation between Bangladesh and UAE, and the other is "Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons between Bangladesh and UAE".

Under the first agreement, the cabinet secretary said Bangladesh and UAE agreed to exchange information related to security and combating crimes, illegal trafficking and smuggling of drug, arms, explosives, narcotics and on the issues of money laundering, cyber crimes, counterfeiting official legal documents and intellectual property rights.

The other agreement is a pact for extradition of the convicted persons between the two countries. The agreement has been signed to facilitate the sentenced persons to be integrated with the society and give them opportunity to serve their sentences in their own countries, he said.

Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet adopted an obituary proposal expressing profound shock at the death of the first Prime Minister and architect of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. "Lee Kuan Yew was a great well-wisher of Bangladesh. His foreign policy helped strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries. Particularly, the relation reached to a new height during the tenure of present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina", it said.

The good ties with Singapore helped sending more manpower to Singapore, the obituary proposal said adding the world has lost a farsighted statesman and person of wisdom at the demise of Lee Kuan Yew.

At the beginning of the cabinet meeting, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam handed over the Women in Parliament (WIP) Global Forum Award to the Prime Minster.

Bangladesh received the prestigious award for its leading role in reducing gender gap in political sphere in South and South East Asia.

On behalf of the Prime Minister, State Minister M Shahriar Alam received the award conferred by WIP in its Summit held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 25 last.

Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol