Communication Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday blasted Finance Minister AMA Muhith for “stepping out of his limits” and commenting that issuing the work order within this government’s tenure would be difficult.
“Everybody should stay within the limits of their responsibilities. The duty of the finance ministry is to only allocate money,” Quader told reporters at the ministry on Thursday.
He also said: “I am not disturbing him [finance minister]. But it is also true that the finance minister should not make such comments.”
The finance minister in his reaction to the floating of international tender for constructing the Padma Bridge on Wednesday told reporters that it was quite impossible to issue the work order within December.
The present government is supposed to conclude its tenure within this period.
Reiterating hope about starting the construction, the communication minister said: “We will go ahead with the construction work of the main bridge no matter what. The bridge division will implement it.”
Regarding Muhith’s comment, Quader added: “The bridge division has a technical committee to evaluate the tender documents. Only they can say whether it is possible to issue the work order within this tenure or not. We should not make any comment in advance.”
Quader criticised his colleague saying: “Although he is learned, he is also an aged person. We know when ‘age goes up, memory goes down’. It is not his fault. He cannot remember everything as he is too old. We are growing old too and can lose our memory.”
Replying to a query about whether it would be possible to start the construction within this government’s tenure, the minister said: “It is not a work of four months. It is a work of four years. Before talking about anything, we should read the mind of the people as they have been waiting to get something.”
Not endorsing the delay in beginning work after World Bank’s backtrack, he said: “It was a great mistake that we did not start the construction of the main bridge after we had decided to do it with our own money. If we could start immediately, we might have made more progress.”
