Live Correspondent: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said her government mulls further steps to bring down essentials' prices to keep them within ordinary consumers' tolerable level. "Price of essentials has gone up. I believe, it is urgently needed to take more measures to bring down the price of essentials to a tolerable level," she said.

The prime minister was presiding over the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting joining virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence, BSS reports. Her cabinet colleagues were present at the meeting in the NEC conference room in the city.

The premier expressed her apprehension that disastrous incidents might be organised in the country as a conspiracy is usually hatched here whenever any move is taken to change the fate of the masses

She asked all to remain alert about the disastrous something for the country. Sheikh Hasina said they can realise people's suffering due to a fresh surge in essential prices due to the global situation.

"I know essentials price has increased due to recent hike in fuel price for global situation. The lower, lower middle, middle and fixed income groups are suffering from the essential price hikes. We can realise that" she added.

To ease the public suffering, the prime minister said her government is going to sell rice at Tk 15 per kilogram (from September 1) to 50 lakhs families alongside taking measures to sell essentials in a fixed price to one crore families through family cards.

"We believe we have to take some more measures so the commoners will not suffer from price hikes. We are doing politics for the people and we feel hurt if they go through pain," she continued.

The prime minister said the price of essentials has shown an increasing trend across the globe due to the Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions and counter-sanctions alongside the ongoing Coronavirus situation.

"Everything has gone out of our purchasing capacity after imposing sanctions (due to disruption of supplying food), though we have the ability of purchasing," she said.

The Prime Minister reiterated her call to increase the production of food against the backdrop of the global crisis, asking to bring each inch of land under cultivation.
 
"We have to take measures to further increase food production which I have been saying since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, " she said.
 
She said her government would provide all possible support to farmers to increase food production.
 
The premier asked the agriculture minister present in the ECNEC meeting to take prompt measures to this end.
 
Referring to the August 15, 1975 carnage in which Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were assassinated,  Sheikh Hasina said, "When the country had started its journey towards prosperity then the attack came."
 
The Prime Minister apprehended something unusual can happen as a vested quarter that doesn't like the country's independence and development, and betterment of the masses is out to hatch a conspiracy to topple the government.
 
"Sometimes I apprehend (of unusual attack like the August 15, 1975 attack) as we're approaching towards becoming a developed country. We have made the country a developing one from the least developed state," she said.
 
The Prime Minister continued: "Various apprehensions are coming to the light and hatching conspiracy starts whenever the fate of the people of Bangladesh is going to change towards betterment."
 
She said the country earlier witnessed a massacre in 1975 when the country's economy turned around and started the journey towards prosperity immediately after the Liberation War under the visionary leadership of Bangabandhu.
 
"It was a rare instance in world history to transform a war-ravaged country into a country towards prosperity by making it a least developed country in only three and a half years. It had been possible for Bangabadhu's visionary leadership, " she said.
 
The Prime Minister said the Father of the Nation had given the call for a second revolution by taking measures to decentralise power to the grassroots so that development could take place in every corner of the country.
 
Bangabandhu made all the makhanas into districts so that development can take place in a balanced way and every person can enjoy its benefit, she added
 
The prime minister also unveiled the cover of the memorial book on the works and life of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman titled “Bangabandhu’s Unnoyon Darshan (Development philosophy of Bangabandhu)”.

Dhaka, 16 August(campuslive24.com)//BIT