Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked the public representatives of the local government bodies to work with utmost sincerity for the welfare of the people.

‘Don’t lose public trust and confidence in any way. So, work for the people accordingly standing by them,’ she said.

The prime minister was addressing the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected mayors of two city corporations — Cumilla and Mymensingh — and chairmen of five Zila Parishads, and councillors of Mymensingh City Corporation at Shapla Hall of her office in the morning.

She said that her government made development of every area in the country and the grassroots people were in the focus of the development works.

‘Every village will be transformed into a township. A radical change has already been there, which you can see,’ she said.

The prime minister asked the public representatives to work for the continuation of the current development trend by keeping the promises they made to the people.

She cited that Bangladesh would finally be graduated as a developing country in 2026.

‘In this context, I’m urging you to stand beside the people with sincerity, serve them and work for them in a bid to continue the current trend of socio-economic development,’ she said.

Earlier, she administered oaths to the first female mayor-elect of Cumilla city corporation Tahsin Bahar Suchona and mayor-elect of Mymensingh City Corporation Ekramul Haque Titu.

The PM also administered oaths to the newly elected chairmen of five Zila Parishads — Kurigram, Thakurgaon, Sirajganj, Brahmanbaria and Habiganj — in the same function.

The five chairman of Zila Parishads are ANM Obaidur Rahman of Kurigram, Abdul Majid of Thakurgaon, Shamim Talukder of Sirajganj, Billal Miah of Brahmanbaria and Aleya Akhter of Habiganj.

Later, some 44 newly elected councillors of general wards and female councillors of the reserved seats of Mymensingh City Corporation also took oath at the same venue.

Local government, rural development and cooperatives minister Md Tazul Islam administered the oath of the councillors.

Local Government Division secretary Muhammad Ibrahim conducted the oath-taking ceremony.

Cumilla City Corporation has got the first female mayor as Tahsin Bahar Suchona, daughter of Cumilla-6 lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar, won the by-election to the city corporation on March 9 last.

Ekramul Haque Titu was elected the mayor in the Mymensingh city corporation election held on the same day.