Bangladesh parliament to have own TV channel

DHAKA - The Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh’s parliament, will soon have an exclusive television channel to telecast its proceedings.

Bangladesh joins neighbour India and several parliamentary democracies across the world that have exclusive TV channels for their parliament.

The government accepted a private member’s bill on the subject.

The proposed channel will be named Sangsad Bangladesh.

All ruling Awami League lawmakers voted ‘yes’ when the speaker put the proposal to vote for approval. Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad accepted the proposal, New Age newspaper said.

“The government will take necessary steps to set up a special television channel for the parliament,” the minister said.

The opposition lawmakers belonging to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, however, refrained from taking part in the vote.