Chittagong has been plastered by billboards highlighting the achievements of the incumbent Awami League government on the eve of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit there.
Similar billboards sprouted up in the port city in early August — but they were projecting some leaders of Juba League, Awami League’s youth front.
The present spate of billboards do not name Juba League leaders but Juba League activists say their leaders have got these put up.
“The banners are being put up on my behalf, not the Juba League,” Mohiuddin Bacchhu, Convener of its Chittagong city unit, told bdnews24.com.
Bacchhu is also an Advisor to Chittagong Billboard Owners Association. He owns five advertising firms – Advalley, Shiny Art, Wonder View, Global Media and Super Shine.
Hasina is expected to visit the city on Thursday. A total of 30 billboards have been up on the Airport Road and Sheikh Mujib Road before the visit.
Juba League leaders say they would put up another 20 billboards in the city. They claim this campaign for the government were their ‘sole responsibility.’
This bdnews24.com Correspondent saw the campaign posters were hanging at the city’s Cement Crossing, Navy Hospital Gate, Bandar Tila, EPZ Intersection, Jhanak Plaza, Barrister College Intersection, Miler Matha, Nimtola Intersection, Barik Building Intersection, Badamtali, Chaumuhoni, Dewangath and Tiger Pass Intersection.
The organisation’s Joint Convener of the same unit Farid Mahmud claimed Bacchhu was overseeing the matter.
Mahmud is the President of the CBOA. He also owns an advertising firm named Sky Art.
He said those billboards would be in place for a week. “The duration may be extended later,” he added.
He avoided a direct answer when asked who gathered the information mentioned in those billboards. “Data provided by others on government development would not be incorrect. Suppose, the ruling party has provided those (information).”
“Most of those billboards were vacant,” he said when asked whether permission from the firms who had rented were taken before sprouting those billboards.
“On the other hand, the permission letter of the billboards sets the condition for allowing display of advertisements for government, semi-government and autonomous institutions if need be. We left the billboards during the Cricket World Cup,” he said.
Source: Bd news24