Cabinet meeting
Bhutan will be allowed to use Bangladeshi ports, territory
The cabinet has approved the draft of an agreement between Bangladesh and Bhutan on traffic-in-transit between Bangladesh and Bhutan for signing.
Once this agreement has been signed, Bhutan will be able to use Bangladeshi ports and territory if necessary.
The cabinet approved the draft during their meeting at the prime minister’s office Monday morning. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting.
Cabinet secretary Mahbub Hossain announced the decisions made in the meeting, holding a press conference at the secretariat later in the afternoon.
A draft law was approved to form public procurement authority. Existing central procurement technical unit is being transformed into an authority, increasing its dominion and capability.
He said that Bhutan lacks the facility of import-export by ships. So, they want to enjoy this facility at Bangladeshi ports and they are being provided this opportunity.
Routes and names of the ports are mentioned in the draft agreement. Bhutan has such agreements with India as well, he added.
Meanwhile, the cabinet finalised setting up a new university in Bogura. Once the university named ‘Bogura Science and Technology University’ has been set up, there will be 54 public universities in the country.
On this issue, cabinet secretary Mahbub Hossain said that the law to set up a university in Bogura had been approved in principal back in 2019.
But, when that was sent for vetting at the law ministry, it was found that a law had been passed for setting a university up in Bogura way back in 2001, while the Awami League government was in power.
The law passed in 2001 will be in effect. And the draft law that was given approval in principal in 2019 has been scrapped.
A draft law to form public procurement authority has also been approved at the meeting. Basically the existing central procurement technical unit is being transformed into the authority by increasing their dominion and capability.
Office hours during Ramadan
A fresh schedule has been approved for government, nationalised, autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations during the upcoming month of Ramadan.
Offices will run from 9:00am till 3:30pm in Ramadan. And for Zuhr prayers there will be a break of 15 minutes from 1:15pm to 1:30pm.
Mahbub Hossain further added that financial institutes including banks and the emergency service providing offices will run according to their own guidelines.
Currently, offices run from 9:00am till 4:00pm. Office hours are rescheduled every year for the Ramadan.
Market monitoring in Ramadan
The cabinet secretary has said that deputy commissioners (DC) have been directed to take legal steps if there’s any unusual situation in the market during Ramadan.
In reply to a question from journalists on this issue, he said that it wasn’t on the agenda of the cabinet meeting. The DCs were given the directions beforehand.