Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the standard of BRTC bus services is improving day by day with the introduction of digital system, including e-ticking and pre-paid cards.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the inauguration programme of 88 AC buses bought under the Indian one-billion dollar Line of Credit (LoC) at her official residence Ganobhaban in the morning.
About the country’s communications system, the Prime Minister said her government has been implementing various programmes, including procurement of new buses and expanding the railway and waterway networks.
She said a total of 290 Double Decker and 50 articulated buses have already been procured under the Indian LoC.
Besides, she said, 275 single Decker CNG-run buses have been procured from China, while 255 modern AC and non-AC CNG-run buses from South Korea, which are now plying different roads of the capital.
The Prime Minister mentioned that a certain number of seats of the BRTC buses had been reserved for the women, children, war-wounded freedom fighters and physically-challenged people.
She further said a female bus service has been introduced in the capital for the convenient of working women.
Hasina said international bus services have been introduced on Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka and Dhaka-Agartola-Dhaka routes.
The Prime Minister called upon the opposition party to refrain from torching buses and burning drivers, helpers and passengers to death in the name of movement.
She said when her government is taking the country towards progress through implementing various development programmes, BNP-Jamaat and Hefazat-e-Islam are destroying private and public property in the name of movement.
A total of 142 BRTC buses have been either ransacked or burned during hartals and other programmes enforced by the opposition from December last year to May this year.
Hasina highlighted the success of her government, including ensuring food security and spread of education through providing stipends and free textbooks, reaching healthcare services to the doorsteps of the common people, minimising electricity shortage and reducing poverty.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader was, among others, present on the occasion.
Source: UNBConnect