PM arrives in Barishal on day-long tour

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman arrived in Barishal on Monday on his first official visit to the division since assuming office, receiving a warm welcome from thousands of people in Gournadi.

His motorcade reached Gournadi around 9:50am, where Information and Broadcasting Minister and Barishal-1 MP Zahir Uddin Swapon, along with local party leaders, received him.

Thousands of BNP leaders, activists and supporters lined both sides of the road at the gateway to Barishal, greeting their party chief with applause as his convoy passed.

Tarique Rahman left his Gulshan residence in Dhaka by road around 6:00am onboard the red-and-green bus bearing the slogan 'Bangladesh First'.

During his visit to Gournadi, the Prime Minister is scheduled to plant saplings along the banks of the newly excavated Sarikal Canal in Batajor union and distribute Family Cards among beneficiaries.

Later in the day, he will join another tree plantation programme at Sagardi near the Trish Godown Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in Barishal city.

In the afternoon, Tarique Rahman is scheduled to attend an organisational meeting of the BNP at the Barishal District Shilpakala Academy.

He is expected to return to Dhaka in the evening.