“Keeping that in mind, greater importance is given to environmental protection in any development plan,” she said on Wednesday (June 5). The Prime Minister was addressing the ‘National Tree Plantation Campaign and Tree Fair 2024’and the ‘Environment Fair 2024’ at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital.
Recalling the days following the August 15 carnage in 1975, Sheikh Hasina said, “After the assassination of the Father of the Nation, the then regime had barred my sister and me from returning home. In 1981, amid personal turmoil, I returned. In my absence, the Bangladesh Awami League elected me the party president. I was driven by my father's lifelong fight and sacrifice for the nation.”
“At that time”, she said, “Our goal was to change the nation's fate, ensure the benefits of independence reached every home and transform Bangladesh into a developed, prosperous country free from hunger and poverty.” The Prime Minister said that if there is any reason to cut trees, three times more trees should be planted in their place.
Regarding the World Environment Day, she said, “We have launched comprehensive programmes to combat climate change and have already achieved about 25 percent of our afforestation goals. It's our duty to protect our people. All development plans prioritise environmental protection, and we mandate planting three times more trees for any that are cut.” Criticising the BNP-Jamaat, Sheikh Hasina said, "In the name of overthrowing the government, they have killed people and destroyed millions of trees. While we plant trees, they destroy them. This devastation is detrimental to the country.”