Dhaka Bureau: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that fire service workers have to work in fire and smoke all their lives. For this, many of the employees of this organization are affected by various diseases at the retirement age. For this reason we have planned to give lifetime ration to fire service personnel. Besides, the work of increasing the manpower of this organization to 30 thousand has also been undertaken.
He said these things in the speech of the chief guest at the opening ceremony of ‘Fire Service and Civil Defense Week-2022’ on Tuesday (November 15). The Prime Minister participated in the program held at Fire Service and Civil Defense Training Complex in Mirpur through video conference from Gana Bhavan.
Referring to firefighters as ‘friends in times of trouble’, the Prime Minister said, we are taking steps to make the fire service and civil defense into maximum service providers with full capacity.
He said, the capacity of this institution, the service area and the status of the officials have also been increased. Because when there is a fire or an accident, an earthquake or something happens or a building collapses, the fire service is the first to rush. Even when a ship or launch gets into an accident we get this fire service. So it is imperative to make them more up-to-date. And that is the step we have taken. We have also taken various steps to increase its capacity and further expand the service area.
Sheikh Hasina said, we have taken the measures to transform the fire service into a full capacity high capacity service organization. The announcement that we made to establish fire service in each upazila is now at the final stage. We have also taken the initiative to establish Bangabandhu Fire Academy with the aim of ensuring that those involved in this work get better quality training and equipment.
The Prime Minister remembered with gratitude the firemen who died in the line of duty in the recent devastating fire at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda. He expressed his condolences to the bereaved family members, wishing them peace of mind.
The Prime Minister said, we celebrated the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation in 2020 and the golden jubilee of independence in 2021. And this is when we get the status of developing country. Keeping this status, we will build Sonar Bangla in 2041. That is our conviction and aim.
The aim of the government is that not a single person will be landless or homeless, he said, pointing out that we have delivered electricity to every house. But the unfortunate thing is that the pace of our development has slowed down to some extent. The impact of Corona virus, Russia Ukraine war and sanctions, counter-sanctions has resulted in global economic recession. We need to prepare for this recession now.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Security Services Department Secretary Abdullah Al Masood Chowdhury spoke as special guests on the occasion. Brigadier General, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defense Department gave a welcome speech. Mine Uddin On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister presented the Fire Service and Civil Defense Padak-2022 in 4 categories to 45 firemen including the families of 13 people who died in the BM Container Depot fire at Sitakunda.
