Court directs Bangladesh govt to control population

The High Court directed the Health Secretary to submit a report to the court within next four weeks on population growth of the last 10 years.

The court also ordered the government to explain within four weeks why it should not be directed to take necessary steps to control population in the country, the Star online reported.

The court also directed the secretary to mention the budgetary allocations for the sector.
It also asked him to give a report on the non-government organisations (NGOs) and other international bodies working in Bangladesh on controlling population, the report said.

The directives of the High Court bench came following a writ petition jointly filed by four Supreme Court (SC) lawyers, Manzil Murshid, Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury, Asaduzzaman Siddique and Tapan Kumar Das as a public interest litigation.

The petitioners pleaded to direct the government to take immediate steps, if needed by creating a separate and independent ministry, to control population in Bangladesh identifying it as the extremely urgent concern of the country.

The court fixed September 26 for further hearing on the issue.
Bangladesh, with nearly 160 million people, is the 7th most populous nation and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.