Noman Ibne Sabit: The ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ is going to be held on Friday (May 6) at the historic Madison Square Garden in New York, USA. Ninety-five percent of Bangladeshis in the United States do not yet know about the organization of such a large international concert on the liberation war of Bangladesh. Many questions have arisen among the expatriates about this.
There is no publicity for the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh concert anywhere. The local event management organization called Mainstream Media did not disclose the details of the event. Out of 15 weekly newspapers published from New York, only 3/4 of the newspapers have published advertisements of without liability. These advertisements do not mention the schedule of the concert, ticket price, where to get the ticket, who can be contacted if necessary. This is a leaflet of without liability. It did not mention the address of Madison Square Garden. The ICT Minister held a press conference at the New York Consulate a day before the last-minute concert. There is no interest in this concert among the expatriate Bangladeshis.
At a press conference held at the auditorium of Bangladesh Consulate General in New York on Wednesday (May 4) evening. Junaid Ahmed Palak, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology said, Arrangements have been made for the free entry of heroic freedom fighters, eminent personalities, established writers and journalists among the expatriates in the United States. Awami League party people will also get free tickets. As of last May 4, only 4,000 tickets have been sold and distributed. The number of seats in the auditorium of Madison Square Garden is 20,789. The one-day rent of this auditorium is about half a million dollars (Tk. 4 crore 30 lakh million in Bangladeshi currency).
The expatriates did not know anything before because of the unlimited silence or secrecy about the concert from the press conference. There was a strong reaction among the expatriates as the details of the concert were released at the last minute.
The government’s ICT Ministry has organized a ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ at the world famous Madison Square Garden. During the Great War of Liberation, on August 1, 1971, a ‘Bangladesh Concert’ was organized in this Madison Square Garden on the initiative of George Harrison and Pandit Ravi Shankar. And this concert was to help in the liberation war of Bangladesh. In their memory, the high-tech park of the ICT Ministry of the Government of Bangladesh has organized this concert on a huge budget on Friday 6th May.
Although the date of this concert was fixed almost a year ago, Bangladeshis living in the United States are in complete darkness about it. Not only that, the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington and the Bangladesh Consulate General in New York came to know about the concert at the last minute. A total of 55 ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and their families from across the country are reportedly coming to New York to enjoy the huge budget concert.
According to the Government Order on Going Abroad (GO), 55 people including two government ministers, three ministers of parliament, government officials and their relatives are going to take part in the event. Among them, there are 31 people from various projects and departments related to ICT department. The question has arisen as to why so many officers are going, to what extent they are going, what is their responsibility. Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Managing Director (MD) Bikarna Kumar Ghosh demanded that everyone who is going has a role to play. Apart from concerts, there are issues of branding and highlighting Bangladesh. There will also be business summits in New York and Silicon Valley, a memorandum of understanding with Harvard University to establish a South Asian ICT Center, and a meeting with the World Bank. It is expected to be their official visit.
However, State Minister Palak said that several ministers, MPs and several officials had come for the concert, but the number would not exceed 20. A few more came at their own expense. Junaid Ahmed Palak also commented that there is no room for confusion about this.
To find out about the ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ to be held at Madison Square Garden, US media ‘Bangla Press’ asked Junaid Ahmed Palak, Minister of State, on Twitter and Farhad, head of local event management mainstream media, on WhatsApp: What is the main purpose of the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert? What is the total budget of the event? What is the amount of government money and how much are the patrons paying? How many delegates are coming from Bangladesh? Who are the US delegates or organizers of the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert organized by ICT Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park and what is their role? As a result of the lack of publicity for the ‘Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert’ to be held in Madison Square Garden, New York on May 6, 95% of the expatriates in the United States still do not know this news. What is your opinion about this? But no one answered these questions, the US media ‘Bangla Press reported.
Hi-Tech Park Authority MD Bikarna Kumar Ghosh did not agree to say the total cost and budget of the concert. However, he said, the government has given 10 crore taka for this event. According to a source, various private banks and financial service providers, e-commerce companies and various industry groups are sponsoring the concert. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Initially, it was estimated that at least 15 crore taka was available from these private companies. According to the GEO, the expenditure incurred by the officials of the ICT department, officials of other government departments and MPs has been covered from various ongoing projects of the ICT department, high-tech park authority, ICT department and ICT department.
Bikarna Kumar Ghosh said, there is no other sector besides this. There are travel allowances for various projects, which are being deducted and the cost of the concert is being deducted. The Concert for Bangladesh was held in Madison Square Garden, New York, USA on August 1, 1971 to help Bangladesh in the war of liberation. The concert was organized by Pandit Ravi Shankar along with the world famous band Beatles artist George Harrison. On the occasion of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence, the world famous band Scorpions and Bangladeshi notes will sing in that Madison. The ICT department says the money from the concert will be spent on cyber security assistance to children in least developed and poor countries through UNDP. According to Geo, most of the government officials are scheduled to return to the country in early May and between May 10-16. The entire period of travel will be treated as a government duty. Those who are going with relatives: A total of 31 people from ICT department and six projects under it, ICT department, high-tech park authorities will go to attend the concert. Notable persons in the ICT department in this list are State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed, his private secretary Saiful Islam and two personal officials of the state minister Rakibul Islam and Ekramul Haque, Additional Secretary of ICT department Md. Khairul Amin and Khandaker Azizul Islam, Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Center Establishment Project Director Mostafa Kamal, Hi-Tech Park Authority Managing Director Bikarna Kumar Ghosh and his daughter and project assistant Gitanjali Ghosh. Also going are Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, his private secretary Mohammad Sanwar Hossain; AKM Rahmatullah, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, his private secretary. Moniruzzaman, committee members Nurul Amin and Aparajita Haque; The reserved seat MP Nahid Izahar Khan, Chief Coordinator for SDGs in the Prime Minister’s Office Juena Aziz, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Nazma Mubarak, Secretary of the Planning Commission Pradeep Ranjan Chakraborty, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). Sirajul Islam, Personal Assistant to the Prime Minister Jahangir Alam.
They are accompanied by ICT state minister Junaid Ahmed Palek’s mother Jamila Ahmed and sister Farzana Ahmed, MP Nurul Amin’s wife Rokshana Parveen, MP Aparajita Haque’s husband Mozammel Haque, AKM Rahmatullah’s wife Halima Rahmatullah, wife of managing director of Hi-Tech Park Authority Tapsi Ghosh, IC Deputy Secretary Reza Md. Abdul Hai’s wife Nilufar Yasmin, Farhana Arabia, wife of AKM Fazlul Haque, director of the project at the district level IT / Hi-Tech Park Establishment (in 12 districts), Lucky Akter, wife of the Private Secretary to the State Minister for ICT, and three daughters. In this regard, Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said that Madison Square is associated with the independence of Bangladesh. In that place, after 50 years, the initiative of the concert is good. But the government officials who are going, to what extent they are going, what is their involvement with the organization and how much is consistent, it needs to be mentioned in the government order. According to him, those who are going, who is responsible for what, need accountability. If there is no rationale behind this expensive trip with government money, then the question will arise.
State Minister for ICTJunaid Ahmed Palak apologized at press conference in New York
The press conference was held in the auditorium of Bangladesh Consulate General in New York on Wednesday (May 4) evening local time.
State Minister Junaid Ahmed Palak said that many mistakes have already been made in the huge event of Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert and he apologized to the journalists for the mistakes that may happen in future also.
He said that he had not seen the liberation war but had learned about the liberation war by listening to stories and reading history. I am a minister of the new generation. So it is normal to make mistakes in this huge event.
Speaking on the occasion, State Minister Palak said, “The Concert for Bangladesh” was held at the world famous Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971 to show the world the support for the great freedom struggle of Bangladesh and the indiscriminate genocide of the Pakistani aggressors. To date, no Bangladeshi event has taken place in Madison Square Garden. So we chose the historic Madison Square Garden as the venue.
The journalists present pointed out the mistake of the state minister and said that the Federation of Bangladeshi Association in North America (FOBANA) conference has been held twice before in Madison Square Garden. The state minister immediately said he did not know. He also apologized to the journalists present for this misinformation.
Journalists Kawshik Ahmed, Lablu Ansar, Mahfuzur Rahman, Nazmul Ahsan, Mohammad Saeed, Hasanuzzaman Saki and many others questioned Junaid Ahmed Palak, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology about the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert. The state minister answered everyone’s questions.
Replying to a question, the state minister said there is no media partner of Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert except Bangladesh Television. At the time, Zakaria Masud Jiku, a BNP activist from New York, claimed her new IB TV USA as a media partner and told the state minister that there was a written agreement given by an official of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park to the effect that her TV was given the responsibility as media partner. In this context, the state minister said I am a minister but I do not know this. The name of the person who has given the responsibility of media partner to your TV said I will take action in this regard.
Zakaria Masud Jiku, proprietor of IB TV USA, is the founding president of the United States Chhatradal. His weekly Aajkal, published from New York, has been the subject of much criticism since the name of IB TV USA, the media partner of the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert, was published last week.
State Minister Palak washed up IB TV in New York: State Minister for Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak. At a press conference held at the auditorium of Bangladesh Consulate General in New York on Wednesday evening (May 4) local time, the state minister gave a proper reply to the demand of expatriate BNP activists and former president of Chhatra Dal as media partner of IB TV USA. No partner.
After hearing the state minister’s reply, New York expatriate BNP activist Zakaria Masud Jiku demanded his new IB TV USA as a media partner and told the state minister that his TV had been given the responsibility as a media partner. In this context, the state minister said, I am a minister but I do not know this matter. The name of the person who has given the responsibility of media partner to your TV said I will take action in this regard.
Zakaria Masud Jiku, proprietor of IB TV USA, is the founding president of the United States Chhatradal. The New York-based weekly Aajkal, edited by Zakaria Masud Jiku, has been the subject of much criticism in various quarters in New York since IB TV USA was named as the media partner of the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert last week. Many breathed a sigh of relief when the news of the appropriate response of State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak to the press conference for spreading false propaganda about the media partner of the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert spread among the expatriates.
BP/SM
