In line with the present government's vision to build Digital Bangladesh, 4,501 union information service centres (UISCs) will be inaugurated across the country today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to open the UISCs from her office at 11.30am through video conferencing, official sources said.

Through the video conferencing, they said, prime minister will talk with Administrator of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark, also a former New Zealand prime minister who arrives in Bangladesh this evening, at remote Char Kukrimukri union parishad under Charfashion upazila in Bhola district.

The opening function will be aired through multimedia projectors from 4,451 UPs simultaneously, the sources said.

The Local Government Division and the UNDP-funded Access to Information (A2I) Programme under the Prime Minister's Office are jointly implementing the project.

“With the opening of 4,501 UISCs, all unions of the country will be linked with the information super highway, moving the nation a step forward towards digital Bangladesh as well as involving grassroots people with mainstream of the development,” said Nazrul Islam Khan, National Project Director of A2I Programme.

He also said it is a big achievement for implementing the election commitment of the prime minister to building Digital Bangladesh. “It would also pave the way for getting free flow of information by the rural people in the quickest possible time,” he said.

With the expansion of the ICT facilities, he said, a huge number of people will get online and offline facilities such as different government forms and information about agriculture, health, education, legal aid, human rights and employment.

Besides, services like composing, printing, photo, scanning, email, internet browsing and multimedia projectors will be provided to the rural people at a nominal price, Khan said.

About choosing the remote Char Kukrimukri union for inauguration of UISCs, he said there is a significant background behind it.