Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today alleged that BNP is doing politics with the ongoing dengue outbreak across the country.

“BNP needs to declare party emergency to come out of their own crisis as over the last one and a half year BNP could not arrange any demo for Khaleda Zia and they also failed to perform the role of a responsible opposition party,” Quader, also the minister for Road Transport and Bridges, said.  

“The people of the country want to see them work rather than just bear their party name,” the minister said during a cleanliness campaign of Awami League to control dengue outbreak at Farmgate area of the capital under DNCC this morning.

Quader said that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the authorities to make the country free of dengue. The government has taken it as a challenge.

“Some people who can’t find anything to do are sometimes calling for declaring the situation an epidemic and sometimes asking for declaring an emergency. Declaration of emergency is needed by those who have failed as a party,” Quader said, adding that the BNP have failed in the election, failed as a party and also failed to stage demonstrations.

Earlier, on Wednesday, AL inaugurated a three-day long cleanliness programme at Dhanmondi Lake near party President Sheikh Hasina’s political office.

Today is the last day of the cleanliness campaign of AL, but they will continue the initiative to make people aware of the importance of cleanliness as long as people are not safe from dengue, the AL leader said.

A monitoring cell comprising of doctors from all over the country will be formed today so that dengue patients can be identified across the country through proper diagnosis and so that they could be given treatment effectively, the minister said.

He also mentioned that around a thousand people died of dengue and over a lakh are affected by the disease in the Philippines. The epidemic has also spread to Vietnam, India, Myanmar and China.

“Instead of doing all talks, we will work. Too much talking can bring wrong results for the country as it is a very sensitive period,” he said, urging the authorities to speak with full responsibility.

Obaidul Quader also urged the countrymen to celebrate Eid with caution and warned that a vested quarter is trying to create panic so that people do not visit their homes during the Eid vacation.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, AL Joint General Secretaries Jahangir Kabir Nanok and Abdur Rahman, Organising Secretaries Ahmad Hossain and BM Mozammel, Cultural Affairs Secretary Ashim Kumar Ukil, Health And Population Affairs Secretary Dr Rokeya Sultana, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam, AL’s Dhaka North President  AKM Rahmatullah, Deputy Secretary Aslamul Haque and AL’s Dhaka North General Secretary Sadek Khan were also present at the programme.