596 complaints with Info Commission

The Information Commission has so far received complaints against 596 officials for not providing information, says minister Hasanul Haq Inu.

The commission has handled 589 complaints and the rest are being processed, the information minister said on Wednesday while replying to a parliament question raised by Independent MP Rustom Ali Farazi.

Two officials have been fined during a hearing for not giving information or for providing confusing information, he said.

Inu placed the list of the accused officials in the parliament.

In response to a question from MP Kazi Firoz Rashid, the minister said at present there was no law for running online newspapers.

The government has taken an initiative to work out such a law, he said.

Replying to a query from MP Shirin Nayeem of reserved women’s seat, he said 31 satellite television channels were given licence in last five years.

Now there are 41 approved private TV channels. A total of 26 channels --- three government and 23 private TV stations are now operating.

The government has no plan to provide licence to any new channel, he said.

In response to a question by Chittagong-12 MP Shamsul Haque Chodhury, the minister said the ECNEC approved the project of a 16-storied building ‘Tothya Bhaban’ at a cost of Tk 600 million.

The construction will start in the next fiscal year and will end by 2016, he said.

Replying to a query from Nurjahan Begum, an MP from reserved women’s seat, Inu said the ‘National Broadcast Policy 2014’ was almost finalised.

Once the policy was formulated, it would be possible to hold private channels more accountable.

65 percent getting power

Replying to a query from reserved woman MP Fazilatun Nasa Bappy, State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid Bipu said 65 percent of people were now getting power.

Responding to a question from Chittagong-11 MP M Abdul Latif, he said power generation capacity would cross 11,000MW by the end of 2014.

A total of 11.92 TCF gas has been excavated from gas fields across the country until March and now 15.12 TCF gas is in stock, Bipu said in reply to a question from Rajshahi-5 MP Abdul Wadud.

The session was chaired by Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.