Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to speedily repair the damaged embankments in the coastal areas due to the recent tropical cyclone "Remal" that lashed the country, reports BSS.

The Premier gave the directive while chairing the 10th meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) held on Tuesday at the NEC Conference Room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

State Minister for Planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar, Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present at the briefing.

"The damaged embankments must be repaired speedily as monsoon is approaching," Salam said quoting the Premier.

He informed that the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also directed for ensuring safe water in the affected areas so that water-borne diseases could not spread.

Abdus Salam said the premier herself monitored the cyclone situation throughout that night and gave necessary directives to the concerned agencies for tackling the situation.

He said the state minister for Disaster Management and Relief informed the ECNEC meeting that the loss of lives was less in the cyclone since all the government agencies, district and upazila administrations were cautious enough to face the situation.

Planning Division Senior Secretary Satyajit Karmakar said the day's ECNEC meeting approved a total of 11 projects involving an overall estimated cost of Taka 14,337.38 crore. "Of the total project cost, Taka 6,541.52 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh portion, Taka 7,879.15 crore from the development partners while Taka 83.29 crore from the concerned organisation's own fund," he added.

Of the approved 11 projects, eight are new while three are revised projects.

Turning to the cyclone "Remal", Satyajit said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina monitored the cyclone situation intensively all throughout and thus gave necessary directives to the field-level officials at district and upazila level to deal with the situation in a coordinated manner.

The Prime Minister reminded of all the concerned officials and stakeholders to keep operative the land phones alongside the mobile phone networks in such calamities, he added.

Sheikh Hasina also directed the government officials irrespective of their portfolios to stand beside the affected people of the tropical cyclole "Remal".

The Premier also asked the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief to assess the loss of lives and properties in the cyclone "Remal" (verifying media reports if needed) and thus publish its brief by next Sunday.

Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan