No decision in spl cabinet body meet

The special cabinet committee on road safety formed with 10 leading ministers sat Wednesday after long eight months of its first meeting but ended without any decision to recover grabbed roads and lands along highways as decided in the first meeting.
The first meeting of the cabinet committee was held on June 9, 2013 where eight decisions including freeing roadsides of illegal markets and makeshift shops, and preventing unauthorised and non-motorised vehicles from plying the highways were taken to ensure road safety.
Sources said though the cabinet committee was formed to take speedy action with coordination among the leading ministries which are involved directly and indirectly with road safety, its member ministers could not give any firm decision relating to execution of any of decisions of the last meeting.
None of the eight decisions taken by the cabinet's special committee in the first meeting has yet been executed till date, they added.
Rather, the Wednesday's meeting reconstituted the cabinet committee members with the ministries of land, shipping, rail, finance, home and rural development and cooperatives. However, some assisting agencies have been incorporated with the committee involving secretaries of those ministries.
The cabinet committee on road safety was formed on May 22 last year with 10 large ministries as its members. The communications minister was made its convener. Its objective was to ensure cooperation of all the related ministries to execute its decisions without political influence as the communications ministry faces a number of difficulties in carrying out the work of removing illegal bazars and structures from the roadsides including illegal plying of Nosimon, Korimon or easy bikes.
Road Division Secretary MAN Siddique, while briefing journalists after the Wednesday's meeting, said the committee's decisions coming from the first meeting could not be executed due to start of the election season.
He, however, said the cabinet committee which is now revised will be able to act properly after the new government is formed.
He said the cabinet committee decided to make the two committees, which used to work on road safety last year, functional through a repeat order.
These committees will recommend the cabinet committee the ways to recover the grabbed land and roads and identify the most and least vulnerable establishments along roads and highways to take further actions.
The road secretary claimed that due to various actions, rate of road accident has come down during the last five years and expressed hope that the cabinet committee would be able to perform better during the current government's tenure than the last tenure.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quder presided over the Wednesday's meeting where ministers of land, shipping, rail, finance, home and rural development and cooperatives were present.