HPM Sheikh Hasina for improving quality of internet services

Purchasing capacity of the people has gone up and their living standards have also improved. So, the people now want to lead a better life, employing the facilities of information and communication technology (ICT), she said.

The government also wants to fulfill the public expectations, Sheikh Hasina added.

The prime minister said this while inaugurating the 3G network of Grameenphone in remote Dahagram and Angorpota of Lalmonirhat district through a video conference from her Gonobhaban residence here.

The premier said ICT is being used extensively for socioeconomic development of the country. So its demand is also increasing gradually. In view of this, it is required to enhance of the speed of internet and other digital services, she added.

She said the government has already signed an agreement for setting up "Bangabandhu Satellite" and all steps are being taken for increasing the speed of bandwidth and other technical aspects to promote use of ICT.

State minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim and former state minister Motahar Hossain talked to the prime minister from the Lalmonirhat end.

Chief Executive Officer of Grameenphone Rajiv Shetty, post and telecommunication secretary M Faijur Rahman Chowdhury and senior government and Grameenphone officials were present at Gonobhaban at the time.

The prime minister said there was no digital telecommunication anywhere in Bangladesh except in some parts of Dhaka and Chittagong before her party took office in 1996. The Awami League government gradually brought the whole country under digital telephone network.

She said it was also the Awami League government which opened up mobile phone in the private sector breaking the monopoly of a BNP businessman.

"Our decision helped create huge employment opportunities in this sector as well as render telephone service to the people under a fair competition and at a low cost," she said.

She extended thanks to Grameenphone for choosing a remote area of the country for their service, saying once people of Dahagram and Angorpota lived like islanders.

"Now they have 24-hour communication facility and 3G services are going there, which will surely play an important role in socioeconomic development of the area," she emphatically said.

The prime minister said the government has already established 5,275 digital centres all over the country and all post offices would be gradually turned into digital centres, of which 3,500 post offices have already been transformed into digital centres.

Every upazila health centre is now connected with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) so that the patients can consult with specialized doctors online, she said.

The prime minister said mobile phone is being used for providing medicare, sending money, getting agricultural information apart from giving useful information to the people, particularly rural women.

Highlighting her government's constant stride for development of Dahagram and Angorpota, the premier said in the eighties it was very difficult to communicate with area.

Though it was a part of Bangladesh's mainland, earlier Tin-Bigha corridor, a landlocked area, was kept open for only one hour a day, she said.

"At that time I was not in power. But at a meeting in India with the then Indian prime minister Rajib Gandhi and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, I first brought the matter to their notice and requested them to resolve the difficulties of the people," she said.

The Indian leaders agreed with me, which subsequently led to keep open the corridor for six hours every day, she said, adding that the Awami League government after coming to power in 1996 persuaded the Indian government to open the corridor for 24 hours and it was done when Awami League took office in 2009.

Awami League government has also constructed a power substation and a police station there apart from setting up a digital centre, a school and made arrangements for drinking water at Dahagram and Angorpota, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said her government is always sympathetic to the people of the landlocked area as it was isolated from the mainland. "The Awami League had taken all steps for overall development of the area when it was in power or in the opposition."

Awami League government first had taken an initiative in 1996 for construction of a bridge on the Teesta river for communication of Lalmonirhat with the mainland. But unfortunately the next BNP government suspended the construction of the project, and construction of the bridge was completed in 2009 when the Awami League came to power again along with many other projects for better communication of the area, she said.

The prime minister said her government had selected Lalmonirhat for a pilot project for maize production. Later, the project was expanded to neighbouring Kurigram and Rangpur and other northern districts.

Because of the steps taken by the Awami League government for agricultural development, she said, the northern districts now produce 15 percent surplus food.

The people of the districts forgot about "Monga" during the 1996-2001 tenure of Awami League which returned during the rule of BNP-Jamaat. The Awami League government after assuming power in 2009 again took measures to stamp out "Monga" from the northern districts, she added."Now none can brand the country's northern part as a Monga-hit area."

The prime minister said the Lalmonirhat railway junction has been renovated with the laying of new rail line and it would be extended up to Kurigram district to improve the communication network, economic conditions and employment opportunities in the area.