The maiden session of the 10th parliament was prorogued on Thursday after 36 working days which saw debates and discussions on various issues over BNP and Jamaat though they do not represent the current parliament. The first session passed two ‘important’ bills – ‘Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) (Amendment) Bill, 2014’ and ‘Supreme Court Judges (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2014’. Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury announced the prorogation after adopting the general discussion on the thanksgiving motion on the President’s speech in the House. The Speaker read out President Abdul Hamid’s order at about 8:58pm to prorogue the House. Before the prorogation announcement, Shirin Sharmin in her valedictory speech said the 10th parliament would be the parliament of fulfilling people’s expectations, and hoped that members of the House would continue to play their important role in keeping it effective and strengthening the parliamentary democracy. She recalled the role of opposition in the House as a shadow government through ensuring government’s accountability and mentioned that the opposition led by the Opposition Leader and independent MPs regularly joined the first session. “Bangladesh is marching ahead. Bangladesh will continue to make progress,” she said in her speech. The Speaker said there were over 56 hours of discussions on President’s speech though initially the time of discussions was fixed at 45 hours. A total of 50 parliamentary standing committees have been formed which will play a significant role in ensuring the government’s accountability and strengthening the parliamentary democracy, the Speaker told the House. She informed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina replied to 57 questions out of 179 questions placed for her, while ministers replied to 1,968 questions out of 2,931. The Speaker also said women MPs (reserved seats) played a significant role by participating in the first session of the 10th parliament. Leader of the House Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Begum Raushon Ershad, Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and Health Minister Tofail Ahmed, among others, spoke in the House on the last day of the first session. The session began on January 29 after the election to the 10th parliament held on January 5 amid boycott by the BNP-led 18-party alliance. – UNB
