There was a time when it took 10 minutes to send a mail. Now we have broadband connections. Freelancers like Thorma Krishna Deo has earned USD 4500 in the last seven months by getting that connection. Like her, the entrepreneur of Phulbari Union Digital Center 5 and earned more than five lakh taka. In this way, through the broadband internet connection of the Info-Govt. scheme, people are making money.
They presented those stories at the closing ceremony of the 3rd phase of the ICT Division’s Info-Government project at a hotel in the capital on Tuesday. The event was presided over by the State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak while the Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen was present as the Chief Guest.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming, Senior Secretary of Information and Communication Technology Division NM Zeaul Alam and Chief Executive Officer of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Authority of the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Md. Mushfiqur Rahman were present as special guests in the event.
The ICT state minister requested the Chinese ambassador present at the event to allocate 500 million dollar for the implementation of the project to transform the villages into cities. At the same time, he urged Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited CEO Pan Junfeng to set up Huawei’s research and development (R&D) center in this country.
Palak said, in 2017, the establishment of 3 projects by Info Govt. was a challenge. However, Summit Communications and Fiber at Home have met this challenge. He thanked us before ECNEC meeting today for successfully implementing this project.
Palak also said that if we can provide electricity, internet, modern road communication, education and health to our villagers then there will be no need to migrate from villages to cities. If they get our 5 basic needs they will be happy to stay in their villages. I think if we can get the approval of both governments to implement the modernization of our urban and rural life through ICT projects then we will be able to really provide all the modern services that our citizens need.
In the event, UDCs are changing the lives of marginalized people with the power of broadband internet. For this, Prime Minister’s ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy and State Minister Jasim Uddin Haider expressed gratitude to the Deputy Commissioner of Barisal Division.
While speaking as the chief guest, the Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen said the Government of Bangladesh is committed to “Digital Bangladesh” and use of Information Technology to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, create employment for all and move Bangladesh towards a developed economy. He also said that among the four pillars of Digital Bangladesh, the Info-Government Phase-3 project has played the most important role in the development of the Connecting Citizen pillar.
He said, Union Digital Center (UDC) entrepreneurs are providing two types of digital services, one is public services such as: Porcha, passport application, NID, mutation, birth and death certificates, online tax returns etc. and the other is private services such as: agent banking, Mobile Banking, E-Commerce, Remittance Disbursement, Exam Registration, Photocopying, Computer Compose etc. These services are provided from Union Digital Centers of around 2600 Unions.
He further said that for the past 4 years, the scheme has been providing free 5 Mbps bandwidth services to entrepreneurs, resulting in provision of nearly 80 crore government services to rural people over the past 13 years. Broadband connectivity is being provided to 1,09,244 government institutions at the village level including educational institutions, health complexes, land offices and other government offices across the country from the Info-Govt. Phase-3 network. Employment opportunities for a large number of youth have been created through freelancing in the project area. In total, about 10 crore people in 60 percent geographical area of the country have come under the high speed internet facility.
Earlier, Bikarna Kumar Ghosh, Project Director of Info-Government Project, delivered the welcome address on the occasion. BCC Executive Director Ranjit Kumar gave vote of thanks.
Besides, Guo Wei, Managing Director of CRIG and Pan Junfeng, CEO of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited spoke among others.
Among the UDC entrepreneurs, Parul Shikder in Dhaka, Mahmudul Hasan in Rajshahi, Rozina Akhtar in Barisal, Munmun Nahar in Rangpur division were awarded the best awards.
Best Freelancer in Mymensingh Division was awarded to Faizun Ahmed in Sylhet Division, Tarek Mahmud from Chittagong, SM Zakir Hossain from Barisal.
ADN Group Chairman Asif Mahmood, Fiber@Home Chairman Moinul Haque Siddiqui and Summit Communications Chairman Farid Khan were given crests.