Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said that she will not accept defeat against an invisible force like coronavirus, fearing death.
"We won't accept defeat… death is inevitable, death can happen any time, but we won't accept defeat against this invisible force out of fear," she said.
The prime minister said this while addressing a function marking the 34th founding anniversary of SSF through video conference from her official residence Gono Bhaban.
She said that she is taking the advantage of digitisation for reaching out to the masses and talk to them to boost their confidence. "I want people to have trust and confidence."
The government has given special attention to saving lives alongside ensuring food, treatment and education for all, the prime minister said.
In this connection Sheikh Hasina put emphasis on all-out efforts from all.
"I will request the people of the country to strictly maintain the health guidelines -- for themselves and for the safety of others," she said.
The prime minister blamed coronavirus for stalling all advancement of the country.
She mentioned that the government was able to lower the poverty rate to 20 percent from 40 percent, upgrade the GDP to 8.1 percent, inflation was maintained at 5-5.6 percent. Besides, per capital income was increased and rural economy was developed, she added.
"We had given special focus on social and economic development, we have worked vigorously, as a result we were advancing forward quickly," she said.
Terming 2020 a "very important year for Bangladesh", she said that the government had chalked out many programmes to celebrate the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
"But we can't celebrate that as per the plan because of this coronavirus," she said.
She mentioned that the most powerful countries of the world have become weak while combating this virus.
Talking about the continuously changing technology and crimes with the advancement of the world, Sheikh Hasina said that technology is used for both good and bad activities.
"Keeping eyes on that the people who are involved in providing security have to attain knowledge on modern technology, they have to enrich their knowledge on what type of criminal activities are going on and how to prevent those," she said.
In this regard, she put emphasis on acquiring necessary training.
Earlier, SSF Director General Major General Md Majibur Rahman delivered the welcome speech.
On behalf of the SSF personnel, their director general handed over a cheque to PM's Relief and Welfare Fund containing SSF personnel's one day's salary and Tk 1 crore.
