Priority to edn, health, food security in national budget stressed

RAJSHAHI, Apr 25 (BSS): Speakers at a pre-budget discussion here Sunday called for giving top priority to the country's education, health and food security in the forthcoming national budget of fiscal 2011-12. In this regard, they also mentioned that the budget should be pro-people and welfare-oriented so that it could bring economic emancipation of the people in general. Besides, they viewed that enhanced priority and subsidy to the agriculture sector could be the means of increasing its field level outputs. The local unit of Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) arranged the pre- budget discussion styled "Pro-people budget indeed to attain education, health and food security" in GDRC conference hall. CGG local unit general secretary Akbarul Hassan Millat welcomed the participants and presented a concept paper on the topic while Associate Professor Rashed Kabir of Finance and Banking Department of Rajshahi University addressed the discussion as a focal person. The speakers underscored the need for giving priority to agriculture, food security and agro-based industries in the budget for Rajshahi region. They said it is an age-old demand of the region's people that all the development works should be balanced in the country but the northern region remained utterly neglected and no government in the past made any effort to change the lot of its people. To take the agriculture sector and its value addition business more advanced, they recommended a separate power plant and a urea fertiliser factory in the region as its economy is completely dependent on agriculture. Former Chairman of Rajshahi Education Board Prof Nurul Alam, President of Population Services and Training Center Mozammel Haque, development activists Joytuna Khatun, Proshanta Shaha, Mustafizur Rahman Khan, Foyezullah Chowdhury and Sarwar-E-Kamal and local unit Coordinator of Bangladesh Regal Aid Services Trust Abdus Samad, among others, gave their opinion in the discussion with CGG local unit president Prof Fazlul Haque in the chair. They urged the government to identify the local needs through proper assessment everywhere in the region and bring those under budgetary allocation for the sake of a balanced development of the country. Besides, they said some vital sectors of the region like setting up an agro-based export processing zone, a fertiliser factory, the proposed North Rajshahi Irrigation Project and natural gas supply should be brought under the budgetary allocation. Terming the sectors as vital for accelerating the region's financial condition, they put emphasis on special attention to those.