Manjur unveils poll manifesto

CHITTAGONG, Apr 23: Outgoing city mayor and BNP-backed mayoral candidate said today he would not enhance holding tax any more if voted for the second consecutive time.
He said he would make Chittagong a terrorism-free, formalin-free and a developed city. His immediate task, if elected, would be to set up sluice gates at the mouths of different canals to free the city from water logging.
"I will not increase the holding tax in the city if elected again. Rather I will make the City Corporation tax collection rules easy and lay emphasis on the realisation process," he said in his election manifesto announced at a community centre in the city.
 "I will first take up the task of setting up sluice gates at Agrabad, CDA residential area, Halishahar, Bakolia and Bahaddarhat which would reduce the water-logging problem," he said.
He said he does not believe in building castles in the air but believes in the reality. "A candidate (not naming AJM Nasir) dreams to turn the city into a megacity but the reality is different. I have worked a lot for the city people in last five years and that is why I'm getting mass support," he said.
Chattagram Unnayan Andolon, (Chittagong Development Movement) convener Dr Abul Kalam Azad read out the 54-point election manifesto on behalf of Mr Alam although Alam himself was present at the press conference.
Apart from placing the 54-point election manifesto the former mayor also placed another paper on implementation of his 56-point election manifesto 2010 where he claimed that many of the commitments made in 2010 have been fulfilled while some others are in the implementation process.
"Development is an ongoing process. It has the beginning but no end. I made the proposals to be implemented in three phases - short-term, mid-term and long-term ones. Some of them have been implemented. Others are in the process. The project of excavating a new canal from Bahaddarhat to Karnaphuli Bridge is waiting to be implemented now as some Tk 2.94 billion has already been sanctioned for the project," he said.
He said he would take up a project for dredging the Karnaphuli River, implement the 1995 Drainage Master Plan, arrange supply of pure drinking water for the city dwellers, remove waste management system and strengthen the education and health sectors of the city corporation.
 Twenty-party alliance leader Col (rtd) Oli Ahmed, BNP vice president Abdullah al Noman, BNP city president Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and former city mayor Mir Mohammed Nasir Uddin, among others, were present at the press conference.
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