Mirza Abbas

Mirza Abbas Uddin Ahmed, popularly known as Mirza Abbas, (Bengali: মির্জা আব্বাস; born February 7, 1951) is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician. He was the Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation from 1991 to 1993. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dhaka-6 from 2001 to 2006, and Minister of Housing and Public Works in Khaleda's cabinet. Mirza Abbas is the member of national standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Early life and career

Mirza Abbas was born on February 7, 1951 in Kishoreganj, East Bengal. He was the son of businessman Abdur Razzak and Kamla Khatun. He had his schooling in the local educational institutions in Kishoreganj. Later, he got admitted to the University of Dhaka in 1966. He attained his Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1972 from the university.^[1]

After obtaining his Bachelor of Commerce degree, he joined his family business named Mirza Enterprises.^[2] Mirza Abbas is the founder of Dhaka Bank Limited. Mirza Abbas was officially introduced to the Board of Dhaka Bank Limited as an Alternate Director in November 1995. He was appointed Director of the bank on March 29, 2012.

Political career

Mirza Abbas is among those leaders who started their political career with the emergence of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and worked with President Ziaur Rahman. He was well known for his pro-liberation role in the party as he refused to work with anti-liberation elements and complained about them to the party chief. Mirza Abbas played a vital role in the movement against the autocratic rule of Hussain Mohammed Ershad in 1980s. He was among the leaders who orchestrated the 1990 uprising in Bangladesh.

Mirza Abbas Uddin Ahmed was appointed as the Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation in 1991. He served as the Mayor of the city till the December of 1993.^[3] Later, in the election of 2001, Mirza Abbas was elected as a member of parliament from capital Dhaka. He was appointed as the Minister of Housing and Public Works. Mirza Abbas, as a minister, time and again focused on the strict enforcement of Wetland Protection Act to ensure environmental balance and flooding. The Ministry of Housing and Public Works under his able leadership amended the Building Construction Rules that was finally enacted in December 2006.^[2]

Under his auspices, the Ministry also formulated Private Housing Land Development Rules, a guideline to streamline real estate developers particularly involved in filling up thousands of acres of wetland and flood flow zones. In The 5th National Council of Bangladesh Nationalist Party of 2009, he was selected as a national standing committee member of the party for his contribution towards the party.^[4] He was later given the responsibility of the convener of party’s Dhaka city unit in 2014. In 2015, he collected his nomination form to contest as a mayoral candidate from Dhaka South City Corporation.^[5]

Social service

Apart from a veteran leader, Mirza Abbas is also known as an active social worker. He established the Mirza Abbas Mohila Degree College for the betterment of women education in his locality.^[2] He donated to SEID Trust, a school for autistic children.^[6]

References