Highways and Bridges Minister
Obaidul Quader finds his seat ‘too hot’, says he has to ‘adjust’ as a minister
Under fire in parliament for the current chaos in the transport sector, Highways and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said he has to adjust as a minister while discharging his duties.
“I want to tell you one thing very clearly, there’re so many problems. You’ll have to face so many things when you'll be there in the [hot] seat. While discharging my duties as a minister, I need to adjust to so many issues,” he said.
The minister said this while facing blistering attacks by opposition MPs over an anarchic situation and recent fatal accidents on roads.
He, however, admitted that restoring discipline in the transport sector is a must for the country. “We talk too much. But we don’t work that much compared to what we say. We don’t implement the job what we believe in, and what we implement, we don’t believe in that.”
Earlier participating in the discussion during the passage of the “Highway Bill-2021,” several MPs of BNP and Jatiya Party came down heavily on the minister and the government for the sorry state of the roads and the transport sector.
Read: Now people call us “collaborators” for overpraising govt: Chunnu
They also criticized the minister for reducing the severity of punishment and financial penalty in the Road, Transport Bill-2018 due to pressure from the transport owners and workers.
In the face of the strong criticism by the MPs over the fatal road accidents, the minister said it is not only reckless driving or the drivers who are responsible for the road crashes -- reckless crossing of roads by pedestrians are also responsible for such tragic incidents.
He said VIPs are also responsible for mismanagement and disorder on the roads as they are unwilling to follow traffic rules.
Participating in the discussion, Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque Chunnu said what is the government doing? “Two people were killed in two days. How a driver of the city corporation can hire another person to drive a vehicle,” he blasted.
2 years ago