Awami League General Secretary and Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader has raised the question that weather the repeated hitting of the pillars of the Padma Bridge by ferries caused by the incompetence of the ferry driver or might be acts of sabotage.
He also said that the issue of hitting the Padma Bridge by ferries four times in a month needs to be looked into.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the National Mourning Day discussion organized by the Awami League’s affiliate Swechchhasebak League held at the auditorium of Diploma Engineers Institution in the capital on Wednesday.
Obaidul Quader said, “The construction of the Padma Bridge became uncertain when the World Bank withdrew its funding. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to build the Padma Bridge with our own funds. Today the Padma Bridge is a visible reality. We hope that the Padma Bridge will be opened to traffic by next June.”
“Construction of all pillars has been completed. I am saying this because the ferries have hit the pillar of the bridge four times in the last one month. Why same incidents are taking place repeatedly. It has to be checked whether it is the incompetence of the driver or sabotage. Why will this happen again and again before the construction work is completed. We also need to look into the matter. There was a conspiracy about this project, it is not over yet,” added Obaidul Quader.
About the pandemic he said, “We have to remember that permanent lockdown is not a solution, if we are not aware. Be aware and deal with the invisible coronavirus. The government is thinking of gradually opening educational institutions. For this, the mass vaccine needs to be successful.”
He said Julius Caesar was the first political assassin in the history of the world. The way Shakespeare described this assassination, if he had been alive after August 15, 1975, Shakespeare would have written about the assassination of Bangabandhu as the most heinous, tragic assassination in the world.
Chaired by Swechchhasebak League president Nirmal Ranjan Guha, the meeting was addressed, among others, by AL presidium member Abdur Rahman, joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Swechchhasebak League general secretary Afzalur Rahman Babu, and vice-presidents Gazi Meshbaul Haque Sachhu and Abdus Salam.
