Future Bangladesh won't be like the previous one: Wahiduddin

Future Bangladesh would not be again the same like the previous one, Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud said today (20 July).

"Surely, I think that in the democratic administration and state system, we won't return to our old era," he said while addressing a workshop on protection of forest-dependent people from forest destruction, plantation economy, climate change and land grab at CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.

"In future, we will learn from our past experiences on how a democratically elected government can become accountable in real sense and thus will fulfill people's expectations," he said.

Otherwise, Wahiduddin said the country's people have already seen the consequences of those who wanted to cling to power forcibly without fulfilling the peoples' expectations.

"And that will not be good for anyone," he cautioned.

He went on saying, "This is our firm belief that the future Bangladesh will not be the same again like the previous times." 

Society for Environment and Human Development (SHED) organised the kick-off workshop with Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman in the chair.

The planning adviser said the expectations of the people should be like that the elected government which will come to power in the future should be more sensible towards the demands of the people.

"They will know better the scarcity and complains of the local people and be more sensible towards those," he hoped.

Referring to the over expectations of some people over the reform commissions on various issues formed during this interim government, he said that despite this short span, the interim government has brought reforms in many areas, but did not want huge publicity of those. "The results of those will be seen in the future," he added. 

He said the interim government wants to leave some footprints before the successive government as work on some reform proposals have already begun while some reform proposals would be left before the successive government.

The planning adviser said efforts should be there so that the people living in the country's forest areas not only depend on the forest resources alone for their livelihood, but also they come into the mainstream of the society through getting educated and thus getting employments.

He informed that arrangements have been made to approve some umbrella projects in the CHT region to address water problem, access to education in schools in those remote areas.

Citing that the forest resources can be protected through not destroying the forests especially in the CHT region, the planning adviser said the productivity among the forest-dependent people living in the forest regions could be enhanced through using modern technology, through motivating them with credit support, arranging improved marketing system and minimizing the presence of the middlemen.

Michal Krejza, head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh; Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori and country coordinator, One Billion Rising; Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury, chief conservator of forests (CCF), Md Yunus Ali, former CCF; and Prashanta Tripura, country director, The Hunger Project and former university professor spoke as special guests. 

Prof Tanzimuddin Khan, member, University Grants Commission (UGC) and faculty of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, gave the welcome address while the keynote presentation was made by Philip Gain, director, SEHD. In the main session of the workshop, community representatives from two geographical regions shared their perspectives.

Speakers at the workshop highlighted the pressing issues and core concerns for the people and other forest-dependent communities living in the forest regions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and the north-central districts of Tangail, Gazipur, and Mymensingh which are centered around forests and land.