Stop smuggling, police excesses on highways

Trade bodies urge govt for sound growth of SMEs

FE Team | Published: January 13, 2018 22:32:08

FE Report
Leaders of the country's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) Saturday demanded of the government to take necessary measures, including stopping harassment by police on highways and checking smuggling, for ensuring sound growth of the sector.
According to them, members of the country's prime security force often halt trucks or lorries carrying exportable and imported products on the highways and demand kickbacks from the vehicles, affecting the consumers and the market.
They, at the same time, also emphasised on rationalising the existing VAT (value added tax) and tax structure to increase competitiveness of such local business entities.
The demands and suggestions came at a view-exchange meeting at the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in the city, where 25 trade associations took part.
The country's apex trade body held the special meeting to know the pains of businesses before preparing a proper plan of actions to boost trade and investment as part of its latest move titled E.R.P (Engage, Reflect, Plan of Action) 2018.
Speaking at the program, Atikul Islam of Bangladesh Adhesive Manufacturers Association said unscrupulous policemen often stop vehicles carrying their products on the highways and intentionally killing too much time on the way in the name of checking documents.
"They, in some cases, demand VAT documents, which is not their area of work. It should be stopped. It causes problem to ensure timely shipments and it also enhances price of the products, which ultimately hurts the consumers," he said.
General Secretary of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association of Bangladesh Md. Kamal Miah said though the government gave priority to agriculture sector, but the machinery makers did not get such treatment.
"We've been paying 60 per cent in the form of VAT and Tax to the exchequer. It should be brought down to zero to ensure availability of such machinery for the farmers," he said.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Accumulator & Battery Manufacturers' Association M. Shahjahan Kabir said they were exporting batteries to 60 overseas destinations. LED is the main raw materials of the sector.
"But we observed in the recent time that a vested quarter smuggled out the recycled LED to India, where price of the element is comparatively high. We expect strict monitoring from the revenue board to stop it," he added.
A representative of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) alleged that many local passengers were now using some mobile apps of other countries to book air tickets for overseas travel.
"It's not only hurting our business but also depriving the government 0f getting a good number of revenue," he said.
FBCCI president Md. Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) said the E.R.P initiative was to know the problems being faced by the industries and chalk out sector-based plan of actions.
He said Bangladesh has been lagging behind in the ranking of "Cost of Doing Business" gradually due to factors like infrastructure deficiency, poor port handling facilities, non-coordination among state agencies and so on. Now Bangladesh's rank is 177.
"Time has come to overcome the problems if we want to achieve our two major targets - becoming a middle-income country by 2021 and meeting all 17 targets of SDGs (sustainable development goals) by 2030," he said.
The FBCCI president said that there were many local companies enjoying the kinds of business facilities in the name of protection of local industries though they import most of their products.
"We need to make a balance of it. We have to make a equal playground without bias," he added.
Replying to the allegations of police harassment, Md. Mozaffal Hossain of the Traffic Department of Bangladesh Police urged the affected business people to communicate with the high-ups of the force with the complains.
"The police administration issued warning to all the policemen not to harass vehicles carrying goods," the police officer said.
NBR (National Boards of Revenue) First Secretary (VAT) Hasan Mohammad Tarek noted down the demands and pains of the business people, saying that he would place the demands to the NBR chairman before the next budget.
"Many businesses demand exemption of VAT or Tax. It is not possible. The government needs to carry out development works. So, it needs fund. We're working on proper VAT and Tax management system that will remove many pains of the business community," he added.
Senior Economist of World Bank M. Masrur Reaz and FBCCI senior leaders, among others, also spoke on the occasion.
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