Govt's main task is to tame price hike, boost purchasing power: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the new tenure of her government would give foremost priority on maintaining the development spree alongside containing the price hike of essential commodities and increasing people's purchasing power.

"Our main task would be maintaining the ongoing development, containing price of essentials and increasing purchasing power of the people," she said while speaking at a post-election greetings and views exchange meeting with leaders and activists of her constituency (Gopalganj-3) in Tungipara at Awami League office here.

Awami League won the 12th parliamentary election with landslide victory and formed the government for the fourth consecutive term.

Mentioning that there is no scarcity of food items in the market, she said, "I don't see any major problem in rural areas, however people of limited income group living in capital Dhaka are suffering due to higher prices of various items."

Sheikh Hasina, also President of Awami League, observed that a vested quarter is responsible for price increase to multiply the sufferings of the people.

She also laid emphasis on increasing production and strengthening supervision on the supply chain.

Sheikh Hasina said her government has taken all initiative for boosting food production and economic progress. But she cautioned that the global economy might face a blow due to the attack on Huthis in Yemen by the USA and UK.

She said conspiracy against Bangladesh is going on from two fronts- one by the killers, their perpetrators and war criminals who were brought to justice by the government and the other by overseas vested groups.

Apart from many other reasons the geographical location of Bangladesh led the many countries to have their evil-eyes on Bangladesh, she said.

The Prime Minister said her government would not allow any country or individual to use its land against another country or propel terrorism and extremism.

"We're an independent and sovereign country, we will move independently, we might be small in size, but we have a huge population, they are my biggest strength," she said.

The prime minister said there was a deep conspiracy to bar Awami League from coming to power again. But people of Bangladesh gave them a befitting reply through the election.

She said it was obvious that BNP would not take part in the election with their fugitive leader. As to why they wanted to foil the election.

In this connection she mentioned about BNP's orchestrated arson attacks, saying they have killed many innocent people by setting fire in trains. To contain the unruly activities everybody must work with utmost cautiousness in the coming days, she said.
Replying to BNP's criticism of forming a cabinet quickly, the prime minister said, "We never hesitate to take a decision.., we were sure that the election will be held."

"We had planned what we would do if we won and what we would do if we lost.  So why should we take time and why would I waste time," she said, adding that "I wanted to utilize every single day for the country's development."

The prime minister sought all out support from the people to defeat all kinds of conspiracies and keep pace with the country's development to materialise the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to establish Sonar Bangla free from hunger and poverty.