The government should place a bill in parliament to bring reforms to the caretaker government and the Election Commission, she said at the concluding session of a golden jubilee conference of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in the city.

Hasina, also the Awami League president, said the opposition lawmakers have submitted notices demanding discussions in parliament on 10 burning issues, including August 21 grenade attack, militancy and Kibria killing, but not a single notice has been accepted.

Expressing grave concern over recurrence of building collapse, she said only National Building code is not enough to avert such disasters as codes and laws could not be implemented because of widespread corruption.

The opposition leader said the government has utterly failed to generate one megawatt electricity during its four and half years' rule. As a result, the entire country is now experiencing acute power crisis in this peak boro season, she added.

The alliance government is now resorting to election engineering to hang onto power sensing that people had lost confidence in them, Hasina said.

She also called on all to resist such a move of the government at any cost and establish the people's right to vote.

IEB President M Anwarul Azim, Chairman Riazul Islam Rizu and Honorary Secretary Md Quamruzzaman also spoke.

Later, the opposition leader gave away prizes to the engineers for their outstanding contribution to their respective fields.