Information Minister Dr Hassan Mahmud said, “Those who distort history are the miscreant of the history. I hope in this golden jubilee of independence and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu, the parties that have made this mistake for so long, including BNP will reform their mistake”.
He made the remark while, speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of Cycle Lane organised by Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) on City Outer Ring Road at Patenga Beach in the port city on Saturday. CDA Chief Engineer Kazi Hassan bin Shams presided over the ceremony while, CDA Chairman M Zahirul Alam Dobhas, Board Members Md Jasim Uddin, KBM Shahjahan, Jasim Uddin Shah, MR Azim, Romana Nasrin and Secretary Anwar Pasha were present as special guests on the occasion.
Dr Hasan Mahmud said, “We have celebrated March 7, the day when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for independence”. He added, “The day after the declaration of independence, a report was sent to the Pakistani headquarters by Pakistan's military intelligence agency ISI, that Bangabandhu has declared the independence of East Pakistan”. The information minister said Bangabandhu had declared independence in such a way that the people understood what to do. Then everyone came down to the field with the slogan, ‘Make bamboo sticks and make Bangladesh independent’. Although the Pakistanis understood that but could not accuse.
The Information Minister said that a few years ago, people did not imagine that there would be such an environment on Patenga beach. It surprised everyone when it first opened. It is so beautifully arranged in the style of a beach in Dubai.
He added Patenga beach was there but, it needed to be modernized as the world is changing quickly. Which did not happen for many years. The beach has been beautified in the context of project implementation through CDA by the hand of Bangabandhu's daughter.
Drawing the attention of CDA chairman, Dr Hasan Mahmud said that one of the attractions and elements of the beach is the shelf. The amount of shelf that was there before is lost. The beach refers to the shelf, Dubai beach also did not have sand at first, later the sand was brought out and the shelf was made there.
He said, “From the very beginning CDA had a commitment to keep a bicycle lane here. I used to cycle to and from varsity while studying abroad. It would be nice if we could have such bicycle lanes in our cities too”.
The information minister also requested the CDA to make bicycle lanes on two roads in Chittagong city.