Muhith advocate ban on rallies, meetings in city’s Motijheel

News - Muhith advocate ban on rallies, meetings in city’s Motijheel
 In the wake of recent violent activities in the city’s main commercial hub causing damage to huge public and private properties, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday strongly advocated for banning holding of rallies and meetings in Motijheel area.

“I would say that holding rallies and meetings should be banned in Motijheel,” he told a questioner after a delegation of Breeder’s Association of Bangladesh met him at his secretariat office in the morning. Association president Moshiur Rahman led the delegation.

Referring to the security aspect of Motijheel area following the anarchy unleashed recently by the Hefajat-e-Islam, Muhith said: “There should not be any meeting in Motijheel and it has to be banned. Of course, the government has to take the decision and persuade everybody to accept it.”

He said different banks, financial institutions and hawkers witnessed the damage of their properties during the mayhem. The government is assessing the damage of its various financial institutions located in that areas while the FBCCI is also carrying out estimation to figure out the losses suffered by private business establishments during the incident.

Mentioning that the hawkers on the footpaths were the most affected during that incident, Muhith said that something would have to be done for them.

During the Dhaka siege programme by the Hefajat-e-Islam on May 5, the miscreants set fire to public properties, especially to Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) and Janata Bank buildings at Paltan.

Besides, some 350 makeshift shops adjacent to the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque were set on fire while around 175 makeshift shops in Paltan area were destroyed.

Turning to the FDI situation in Bangladesh, the Finance Minister said that the FDI is still low in the country and most of them are unregulated. “We perhaps may have to look into the matter and develop some regulatory control.”

Referring to the demands of Breeders Association of Bangladesh, he said that they demanded extending the tax holiday facility for this sector up to 2025 in stead of 2020 as recommended by the concerned Ministry.

Muhith also informed that the tax holiday facilities in the country would expire by this fiscal year.

Besides, the Association leaders also demanded of the government to provide tax rebate and withdraw tax on annual turnover of the poultry farms and poultry feed mills.

Source: UNB Connect