Newspapers and electronic media in Bangladesh are enjoying unbridled freedom during the present government, Information and Broadcast Minister Hassan Mahmud told the Parliament said on Tuesday.
Replying to a tabled question by Jatiya Party MP from Dhaka Syed Abu Hossain, the minister also said that free flow of information has been ensured to help accelerate national development.
He said the government has formulated national media policy 2014, enacted Right to Information Act 2009 and established Information Commission and formulated online media policy 2017 to help journalists pursue objective journalism.
He mentioned that due to the liberal broadcasting policy of the media-friendly government there are 46 televisions, 22 FM radios and 33 community radio channels in the private sector.
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The minister said 108 online news portals have been given registration certificates.
In addition, registration certificates have been issued to online portals of 108 daily newspapers, while work is underway to give permission to 48 more.
Responding to a question from ruling party MP from Dhaka Habib Hasan, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the government has no plan to provide new gas connections to residential areas.
Responding to a question from ruling party MP from Chattogram M Abdul Latif, the state minister said the country's demand for natural gas is currently around 3,700 million cubic feet per day.
In the FY2021–2022, the daily production from domestic gas fields has been 2,432 million cubic feet and the capacity to import LNG is equivalent to one thousand million cubic feet per day.
Of this, a target of importing 625 million cubic feet of LNG per day was set FY 2021-2022 ending on June 30.
Responding to a question from ruling party MP from Bhola Ali Azam, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said during the outgoing financial year the country's fertilizer factories have produced 9,85,889 tonnes of fertilizer till June 16, 2022 against the annual target of 9.5 lakh tonnes.
He also said that urea fertilizer is imported from abroad.