Local Government and Rural Development Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said the Election Commission (EC) has already started preparations to hold the local government elections in a free and neutral manner, reports UNB.
"In order to arrange the next local government polls in a free, fair and impartial manner, the EC has already started necessary preparations," Fakhrul, also the Minister in charge of the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat in Parliament, told Parliament, replying to a starred question from treasury bench member Sheikh Md Rejaul Islam (Naogaon-6).
Deputy Speaker Barrister Kayser Kamal tabled the question-answer session at the outset of the day's business of the House.
Fakhrul said the EC has undertaken the necessary preparations to ensure that a credible and participatory local government election is held within the stipulated timeframe.
Replying to a question from NCP lawmaker Abul Hasnat, popularly known as Hasnat Abdullah (Cumilla-4), the minister said the EC introduced, for the first time, an IT-supported postal ballot registration system to facilitate voting by Bangladeshis living abroad.
He said the initiative will continue in the next national election and that the EC is working to bring the maximum number of expatriate Bangladeshis under the postal balloting system to ensure their voting rights.
In response to a question from opposition Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Abdul Karim (Gaibandha-2) Fakhrul Islam said right now the government has no plan to increase the salaries and allowances of union parishad chairmen and members.
BSS adds: LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir informed parliament that around 11 per cent of the country's population remains at risk of arsenic contamination, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF joint Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019.
Replying to a starred question by treasury bench lawmaker Selina Sultana from the reserved women's seat, the minister said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), under the Local Government Division, has undertaken various initiatives to protect people from arsenic contamination.
He said the DPHE has been implementing different projects in rural areas to ensure access to safe drinking water. Under these projects, around 1,215,948 arsenic-safe water sources have been installed as of 2026. These include deep tube wells, piped water supply systems, rainwater harvesting facilities, pond excavation and re-excavation, and solar-powered pond sand filters.
The minister expressed the hope that the ongoing initiatives would reduce the proportion of people exposed to arsenic contamination to 5-6 per cent by the end of 2026.
