Staff correspondent

The acting Awami League general secretary Sunday said a lack of skills and coordination from the caretaker government might have triggered the price boom.

"The government should be able to rein in the ever-increasing prices of essential commodities," said Syed Ashraful Islam at a press conference at the party's Dhanmondi office.

The press conference followed a meeting of presidium members and organising secretaries. "One may raise a critical question as to whether or not the government is functioning effectively," he said.

Ashraful said he subscribed to Regulatory Reforms Commission chairman Akbar Ali Khan's remarks that a "silent famine" was ravaging the country.

"Dr Khan is an expert and he said it rightly," said Ashraful. He complained that a letter from the party sent to the Chief Adviser's Office requesting assistance in sending detained party chief Sheikh Hasina abroad for medical treatment was received by a messenger.

"Though there are scores of officials posted at the Chief Adviser's Office, you won't find anyone even willing to receive a phone call when the boss is overseas." "In the absence of the chief adviser, the officials are taking it easy and relaxing. One might say this government is not serious about governing the country," said Ashraful.

The AL leader said the meeting endorsed the opinion of the doctors that advised sending Hasina abroad for treatment. He reiterated that the administration should send her to the United States on humanitarian grounds. "However, there is no evidence that the government is not taking adequate measures in this regard."

"The machinery of government is a huge affair, it cannot take decisions in minutes like a family can. We have to understand the realities." "The medical panel and her personal physicians have to treat her in a coordinated way. I don't see any scope for politics here," he said.

Ashraful said the party meeting had fundamentally disagreed with the caretaker government's decision to cancel a national rally by the Liberation War Sector Commanders on March 15. The meeting also discussed the issue of declaration of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birthday on March 17 as a public holiday.

The AL leader said he had faith in the chief election commissioner's remarks on the schedule for the national polls. "We trust Dr (ATM Shamsul Huda) and hope he will state the week, if not the exact date, in June for the elections." Ashraful, however, added that the Election Commission had been unable to deal effectively with the controversy surrounding the BNP.

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