BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Tuesday said that several agents of conspirators have infiltrated the party and urged its leaders to take strong action against anyone attempting to defame the organisation for personal gain. “Our leaders and workers have maintained people's trust in the party despite immense repression and suppression. If anyone among us tries to ruin this trust for their own interests, I urge you to take stern action against them and suppress such people with strong hands,” he said while virtually addressing BNP’s three workshops simultaneously. The workshop, titled "31-Point State Structure Reform Proposal and Public Engagement," was organised by the BNP Training Affairs Committee in Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Gazipur Divisions.  The Dhaka Division's programme was held at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh. Over 2,500 grassroots leaders from the party's upazila, thana and municipality units participated in the workshops. Accountable govt, functional parliament can safeguard people’s power: Tarique Tarique Rahman urged party leaders at all levels to closely monitor the activities of their subordinates to ensure that no one can tarnish the reputation of the party for personal gains. He said their party must return to power with the support of the people to implement their 31-point proposal and serve the public. "Our long struggle, sacrifices, and plans will be in vain if we fail to achieve this. We need the public's support to succeed.” The BNP leader urged his party colleagues to follow the right path with the right actions. "We must avoid immoral activities. Instead, we must speak out against unethical practice and take a strong stance against misdeeds.” He also called upon the party leaders and workers to take a vow to keep the people’s confidence at any cost. Tarique said BNP now enjoys the support of the majority of the people in Bangladesh, making it the cause of jealousy among many political parties. "Many plots are also being hatched against our party.” He asked party leaders and workers to stay vigilant about the conspiracies being plotted against them. "They have planted many agents within our party as part of these schemes. We must remain alert and cautious," the BNP leader warned. He once again cautioned BNP leaders and workers that the next election will be tougher than any previous polls, despite their main opponent having weakened. "We must prepare ourselves in such a way that we can overcome the challenges of this toughest election with the support of the people. Stay with the people and keep the people with you," he said. Tarique said the main goal of their party is to change the fate of people and move the country forward.  The country’s crores of people are looking to the BNP with a great hope as they have confidence in it, he said. "People ask BNP leaders and workers when the election will be held. They ask you this question because they believe you can work for their welfare. They think their future and fate are tied to your actions," the BNP leader said. People deserve to know state reform timeline: Tarique Rahman He said that gaining the confidence of people is the greatest asset for any political party, leader, or worker. "If people trust you, it's a significant political achievement for you. It is also your duty to maintain that trust." Describing every leader and worker of BNP as an ambassador of the party, Tarique said the people will judge the party based on their activities. He acknowledged that, as a political party, it is natural for BNP to seek elections, and there is nothing wrong with demanding polls. “Those who can garner public support will govern the country." The BNP leader, however, said they want a free and fair election where people can cast their votes freely. “BNP does not believe in nighttime elections or vote fraud. The right of the people to vote must be restored at any cost. The state should be reformed with the support of the people.” Tarique also promised that if BNP returns to power, it will ensure press freedom and the protection of other rights for the people. He said that their party, along with the people of the country, forced the autocratic government to flee. "Although the heads of the autocratic regime have escaped, many of its remnants still remain in the country and they’re hatching various schemes. We must remain alert about it.”

LGRD and Cooperatives Tazul Islam on Thursday stressed the need for public awareness and engagement to ensure inclusive sanitation throughout the country. "Inclusive sanitation is not possible without engaging the mass people. Once they become aware of the adversities of open disposal, they’ll start extending cooperation and this will bring good changes," he said. The minister was addressing the launching ceremony of a new sanitation project at the Council Building of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) in the city. The International Training Network (ITN - BUET), a Center of Buet, launched the project titled "Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Scaling and Sanitation Innovation." Tazul Islam said the biggest challenge is to rightly design and execute sanitation projects in time. “We can meet these difficulties by working together. We don’t want only citywide sanitation, but also countrywide inclusive sanitation so that no one is left behind when we meet SDG targets." He mentioned the government's strong commitment to ensuring safely managed sanitation for all and emphasised the importance of leaving no one behind to achieve the citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS).  Chaired by Buet Vice Chancellor Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, the launching event was attended, among others, by Senior Secretary of Local Government Division Helal Uddin Ahmed, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Buet Dr Abdul Jabbar Khan, Deputy Director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, Chief Engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) Saifur Rahman and Managing Director of Dhaka Wasa Engineer Taqsem A Khan. Read: No boarding passes if South Africa returnees not fully vaccinated: FM The speakers said it is high time to scale sustainable citywide sanitation services in urban areas to meet the new generation challenges of urban sanitation and reach the global sanitation target by 2030. Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha said, "I believe Bangladesh will be a leading example for other countries by implementing SDG targets". He said the ITN-Buet will be the leading capacity-building hub for this region as well as international. Prof Satya Prasad said the ITN-Buet has strong relations with national-level WASH programs. Buet always contributes to the nation and will continue to do so through this project as well, he said. ITN Director Dr Tanvir Ahmed presented the keynote paper reflecting the necessity of capacity-building for scaling citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS), which is a public service approach for sustainable urban sanitation and adopted by many developing countries. The project is built on learning and experiences from the previous partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for national-level capacity-building on fecal sludge management and citywide inclusive sanitation.  Dr Ahmed highlighted that the current phase intends to build the capacity of stakeholders to mainstream the CWIS approach in cities of Bangladesh and in partner countries like Nepal and Indonesia for sustainable sanitation, said a press release.

Speakers at a virtual dialogue on Sunday said it would not be possible to tackle the existing coronavirus situation with only the government’s initiatives as the public engagement is crucially needed here, which remains missing in the policy of the State.  “If all want to face this adverse situation bureaucratically, it’ll not work. Social engagement and initiatives will be required here alongside the government’s initiatives. Otherwise, I think Bangladesh would be affected so immensely,” said Bangladesh Workers Party MP Fazle Hossain Badsha (Rajshahi-2). Citizen’s Platform for SDGs and the Hunger Project jointly arranged the dialogue titled “’Initiative for local people engagement in tackling Corona” through an online platform. Badsha said the administration was entrusted with the responsibility (to deal Covid-19 pandemic). “The concept of public engagement is not there in the decisions of the State (Government),” he added. “I think that it is not possible to reduce the Covid-19 infection (rate) without public engagement and their organised power…. A trained volunteer group is needed today to serve the people in this crisis,” said the lawmaker. Convenor of the Citizen’s Platform Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said now there is no alternative to a public engagement initiative in combating the pandemic. “But the biggest obstacle here is the absence of necessary framework and guidelines on the part of the government for such a public engagement initiative.  This absence is also undermining the effectiveness of various government stimulus delivery and awareness-raising about vaccination and health protocols,” he said. Read: Bangladesh faces harder days as Covid kills 231 more He questioned whether there is any ‘mental barrier’ among political leaders to engage the country’s non-government development initiatives or whether the political leaders consider them (non-government organisations) as their competitors not thinking them as partners. Noting that it is the administration not political leaders who play the greater role in tackling the pandemic now at the local level, he also questioned if the administration also feels any sort of discomfort or mental barrier to engage private initiatives. To fight the pandemic in a coordinated way, it is urgently needed to have a national guideline over public engagement shunning the narrow attitude towards private ventures, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. Noted economist Prof Rehman Sobhan stressed the need for collective action in coordination of the government and private initiatives to fight the pandemic. “Civil Societies are not competitors rather they are partners (of the government),” he said. Country Director of the Hunger Project Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar in his keynote presentation said the Corona Resilient Village (CRV) initiative is essential to check coronavirus transmission in the grassroots. He said now the coronavirus has already spread throughout the country due to community transmission. It’ll take a long time to bring all the people under the vaccination coverage. Besides, there is still uncertainty even about the effectiveness of vaccines.      Read: Bangladesh to resume administering AstraZeneca jabs Monday “So, this coronavirus problem will not go away so easily. We’ll have to lead life coping up with it…This is why we took the CRV initiative last year,” said Dr Majumdar explaining that the CRV initiative is based on volunteer work and run by the community leadership. Noted personality Prof Rounaq Jahan said people are much aware but don’t practice the health protocols. “So, it is essential now to reduce the gap between awareness and practice,” she said.   Mentioning that the government frequently changes its Covid decisions, Prof Jahan said, “The government will have to stick to its policy (not changing it frequently), if it wants to enforce more successfully and reduce the awareness-practice gap.” Swapan Kumar Das, Chairman of Fakirhat Upazila in Bagerhat, said the coordination between the public representatives and the administration in the fight against coronavirus was not seen in many places. “But the lack of coordination is not seen here in my place (upazila), though the public representatives don’t have so much responsibility here as they are just assisting the administration,” he said.     Awami League MP (Meherpur-2) Mohammad Shahiduzzaman and public health expert Dr Lelin Choudhury, among others, address the dialogue presided over by Dr Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury.

Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday carried out her first public engagement outside of a royal residence since early March when the coronavirus pandemic started to impact upon on all aspects of day-to-day life in the U.K.