The approval came from the weekly cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“No tour operator can run without registration. If anyone does, it would be tried under the Code of Criminal Procedure,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat after the meeting.
“Now, there’s no guideline and rule for tour operators in the country,” he said adding that the conditions for getting registration, period of registration and provisions for cancellation of registration have been mentioned in the bill.
“It has precisely been defined in the bill that who would be tour operators and tour guides,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
He said if the bill is passed, it will be possible for tour operators to run their activities properly within legal framework, the tourism sector will flourish, the revenue of government will increase and it will be easier to avail of tour services.
Besides, the Cabinet approved in principle the draft of Bangladesh National Achieve Bill 2020 with a view to creating scopes for the massive use of IT and capacity building in archiving activities.
The bill will replace the National Archives Ordinance 1983, said the Cabinet Secretary.
According the proposed law, the head of National Archives will be the ‘Director General’ instead of the existing Director, he said adding that the DG has, however, been given any authority to destroy any document.
If the bill is passed, it will expand the scopes to collect information from the archives and conduct research,” said the Cabinet Secretary.
He said if anyone willingly distorts records, documents, newspaper reports, maps, scripts or evidence preserved in the archives, the person will have to face a three-year imprisonment as per the proposed law.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet cleared the draft of the President’s speech to be delivered in the special session of Parliament summoned on the occasion of ‘Mujib Borsho 2020’ marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“The speech will focus on Bangabandhu’s life sketch, political philosophy and his role as a parliamentarian, his role to govern the country and his works for the wellbeing of people,” said Anwarul Islam.
President Md Abdul Hamid will address Parliament at the outset of its two-day special session beginning on March 22 to celebrate the Mujib Borsho.