Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today sought the cooperation of people in completing the development projects taken by her government to create jobs and improve their lifestyle.

"Our tenure is now at its fag end as the election is getting closer. The election schedule will be announced anytime soon...we'll get back to people and seek their votes for Boat," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating 297 projects and laying the foundation stones of 24 others in 56 districts under 20 ministries and divisions through videoconferencing from her official residence Ganobhaban.

Sheikh Hasina said her party urges the people of the country to cast their votes in favour of Boat, the election symbol of Awami League, to complete the projects after getting back to power through the next election.

Recalling the horrible days of 2001 to 2008, Sheikh Hasina, also the chief of Awami League, mentioned that it was another era of darkness like the post-1975 period.

At that time, she said, Bangladesh had become champion in corruption for five times apart from the spread of militancy, terrorism, bomb attacks, grenade attacks and killing of Awami league MPs and thousands of its activists.

The Prime Minister said Awami League participated in the 2008 election and came to power as people cast their votes for the party.

She briefly described the atrocities unleashed by the BNP-Jamaat clique in the name of resisting the January-5 election in 2014.

"They had killed people setting fire to them, destroyed public and private property...people witnessed those...what horrible misdeeds they (BNP-Jamaat) had committed," she said.

Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat nexus again started killing people and destroying public and private property by unleashing 'fire terrorism' for 92 days starting from January 5, 2015.

"They (BNP-Jamaat) had burnt 500 people alive and left some 3,800 other victims," she said.

Defying all the odds and the world economic recession t that time, the Prime Minister said, her government had been able to maintain the pace of development. "The fact is that there has been a real change in the lives of people ... there'll be more development in their lives...we want that, we are working for that."

From the programme, the Prime Minister declared Sundarbans as a zone free from pirates as all groups involved in such acts surrendered to law enforcement agencies gradually.

The Prime Minister said the government provided Tk one lakh to each of those who surrendered in addition to providing other necessary support.

While talking to officials and people in Bagerhat through the videoconference, she also asked the authorities concerned to extend all-out cooperation to those who returned to normal life leaving piracy so that they could led a decent life.