Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, today said no one will remain poor and homeless in the country as her government is working relentlessly for the welfare of the nation and the countrymen.

Hasina said this in a message marking the 71st founding anniversary of Awami League to be observed tomorrow.

"On this day, I recall with respect the greatest Bengaliof all times, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I recall Awami League's founding president Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani and general secretary Shamsul Haque. I recall with respect Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy," she said.

She also recalled with respect the four national leaders, and all martyrs of struggles for freedom, Liberation War and struggles for democracy and all leaders and workers of AL who had embraced martyrdom to turn the party into the largest organisation of masses.

Bangladesh Awami League was formed on June 23 in 1949 at the "Rose Garden" on KM Das Lane in Dhaka to emancipate the Bengali nation and realise their rights, the premier said.

"Awami League has a glorious role in every major achievement of the Bengali nation. We have stood with our heads held high before the world as a country with self-respect under the leadership of AL government. In the future, Awami League, along with the people, will build a poverty-hunger free, happy, prosperous and developed Sonar Bangladesh as envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman," she said.

After returning to power in 2008 and it has since been working relentlessly for the welfare of the countrymen as well as the nation, the AL president said.

In the last 11 and a half years, Bangladesh has achieved unprecedented successes in the socio-economic sector while the country achieved the eligibility to be considered a developing country from the status of least developed country (LDC), she said.

Noting that the health services have been taken to the doorsteps of the people, the PM said, "The people are getting 30 kinds of medicines free of cost. Infant and maternal mortality rates have decreased. Average life expectancy has increased to 73 years.

"We are a building digital Bangladesh. The country has achieved self-sufficiency in food. Free textbooks are being distributed among the students up to secondary level".

"The literacy rate of the country is now above 73 percent. About 96 percent people are getting electricity facilities. Education for women has been expanded and women empowerment has been established. Madrasa education has been modernised and made job-oriented," she noted.

"We have started implementing the Delta Plan 2100 for the first time in the world," she added.

All homeless people in the country will get homes in the Mujib Year, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and no one will remain poor and homeless in the country, she said.

Highlighting the government's responses to overcome the crisis triggered by the global Covid-19 pandemic, Sheikh Hasina said, "We have announced 19 stimulus packages of over Tk 1,01,117 crore. A total of 50 lakh families got cash assistance of Taka 2,500 each".

An allocation of Taka 1,000 crore has been made in the fiscal year 2020-2021 for meeting emergency needs amid the Covid-19 pandemic, she also said, adding that AL as a political party also stood by the people and has been helping them in this time of crisis.

"We will turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country before 2041, In Sha Allah," the premier said.

The AL president also urged all to celebrate the party's founding anniversary through virtual media, maintaining the health guidelines instead of making public gatherings.

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No one will remain poor, homeless in the country: PM - The Daily Star