Sylhet city BNP boycotts reception for President, power outage at venue

The civic reception organised by Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) in honour of President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has begun. The President arrived at the reception venue on the premises of Nagar Bhaban around 3:45pm on Tuesday (September 15). At that time SCC Administrator Abdul Kaiyum Chowdhury along with senior officials and local dignitaries welcomed him with flowers.

President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will speak as the chief guest at the reception organised at Nagar Bhaban. Under the chairmanship of SCC Administrator Abdul Kaiyum Chowdhury, Minister for Textiles and Jute, Industries and Commerce Khandaker Abdul Muktadir, Minister for Labour and Employment, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ariful Haque Chowdhury and Whip of the Jatiya Sangsad GK Gouch are present on the stage of the programme. The President’s wife Rahat Ara Begum is also at the event.

On behalf of SCC a traditional Shital Pati of Sylhet, a replica of a tea plant and high-quality tea leaves are to be presented to the President. In addition, a Manipuri saree will be given as a gift for the President’s wife Rahat Ara Begum.

Sylhet city BNP boycotts the reception

Meanwhile, Sylhet city BNP has announced a boycott of the civic reception for the President at Nagar Bhaban. Several leaders of the party alleged that no discussion was held with the leaders of city BNP regarding the organisation of the reception. They claimed that the SCC administrator organised the event through a unilateral decision and the leaders were not properly invited.

The city BNP leaders further alleged that during the President’s visit to the shrines a vehicle was arranged for them that did not have permission to enter the shrine area. As a result the security forces stopped the vehicle on the main road and the senior leaders of the party had to walk to the shrine. They said the decision not to attend the reception was taken for these reasons.

President of Sylhet city BNP Nasim Hossain said no leader or activist of city BNP will attend the reception programme for ‘various reasons’. However, he did not want to disclose the reasons immediately. According to him, city BNP has participated in all other programmes of the President’s visit except the reception.

General secretary of city BNP Emdad Hossain Chowdhury said city BNP and its affiliate organisations have boycotted the event on allegations of organising the reception without forming a civic committee through the proper process and arbitrariness of the organisers. Attempts were made to contact SCC Administrator Abdul Kaiyum Chowdhury on his mobile phone for his comments on the matter but he could not be reached.

Power outage at the reception venue

A power outage also occurred at the venue of the President’s civic reception. There was no electricity at the reception venue of Nagar Bhaban for about 10 to 15 minutes around 2:45pm on Tuesday. At that time, however, the President had not yet arrived at the venue.

On the power outage, chief engineer of the Power Development Board (PDB) in Sylhet Mohammad Imam Hossain said it was not load-shedding. The question of load-shedding at the President’s programme does not arise at all. Temporary disruption in power supply may occur due to some other technical fault or disorder. He said load-shedding has not been kept in Sylhet on the occasion of the President’s visit, but low-voltage problems may exist in some places.

This is the first Sylhet visit of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir after assuming office as the 23rd President of the country. He left for Dhaka on a flight in the morning and arrived at Sylhet Osmani International Airport at 11:27am. Later the President visited the shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal (R) and Hazrat Shahparan (R).