Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader Thursday said a cabinet committee on the Ninth Wage Board Award for newspaper and news agency journalists and employees has finalized its report for cabinet endorsement after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returns home from UK.
“The cabinet committee today at its fourth meeting has finalised the report on ninth wage board award . . . we think the report is realistic and logical,” Quader, who heads the seven-member cabinet committee, told newsmen at a press conference at the Information Ministry.
He added that the committee decided to send its report to cabinet division to be placed before the full cabinet after the premier’s return home from Britain on August 5 and “after the final approval (by the cabinet), a gazette will be published” for its implementation.
Quader, also the general secretary of ruling Awami League, said the committee prepared the report after holding meetings with the concerned stakeholders in phases and prepared a ‘realistic and logical’ report.
Most other members of the committee, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Industries Ministries Nurul Majid Mohammad Humayun and state minister for cultural affairs KM Khalid attended the press conference, also joined by state minister for information Dr Murad Hasan.
The information minister, however, said the ninth wage board award was meant alone for newspaper and news agency journalists and employees but the electronic media journalists and employees could be brought under its purview as well after the passage of a pending law on the mass media workers in parliament.
