It's a picnic!
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Ameer Hamza
On Tuesday, 12 January 2010, a team of at least 17 esteemed men, started a tour of at least five countries within Asia. It was led by Mr Shahjahan Khan, the Shipping Minister and included four members of the parliamentary standing committee concerned, the relevant ministry's joint and deputy secretaries, Mr Khan's personal assistant and other favoured persons. Their avowed mission: to see for themselves how certain sea and land ports in the region are running, such as India's Petrapole and Mumbai, Sri Lanka's Colombo, Malaysia's Kelang and Penang, China's Shanghai and Hong Kong. This trip is supposed to help the entourage gather essential experience to improve Bangladesh's own ports ---- existing ones as well as those in our dreams, such as the proposed Sonadia deep sea port.
And where are the travel expenses coming from? Barring the half a dozen or so businessmen tagging along, the expenses of the good minister's inner circle, of no less than a dozen men, are being paid by the Chittagong Port Authority. The chairman of CPA himself is included in the team, of course.
The amount shelled out for travel and other costs, in this instance, comes to some fifty lakh taka (five million), although, as per rules, the said authority is not obliged to foot the bill for the foreign trips of luminaries like MPs and ministers.
Only employees of CPA are entitled to funds allocated for specific purposes, training in the main. Yet the minister-in-charge, Mr Shahjahan Khan, has repeatedly been recommending the use of this training fund for himself and his friends, according to a recent report in the Prothom Alo. Air tickets alone cost 24 lakhs, 23 thousand, 600 taka. In addition, the 12 have taken 20 lakhs in advance. The CPA Secretary was quoted as saying that designated travelers are entitled to draw up to 80 per cent of their allowance in advance, so there's nothing unusual in this.
It may be mentioned here that only last month Minister Shahjahan Khan and MP Mohiuddin Khan had both enjoyed a year-end holiday in India, together with their spouses, paid for by the same CPA from the same training fund! However, this is not the first time that the powers- that- be have been flouting rules to satisfy themselves. It happened under earlier governments too. And nobody seemed to consider it unethical to 'appropriate' money meant for other purposes, so obtuse is the acquisitive mindset of those in positions of power --- no matter what the colour or the hue!
It has been seen that many government officials during different regimes had gone on CPA-funded foreign trips which had not benefited the premier sea port at all. However, the military- backed caretaker regime, it must be said (for one must give the devil its due), made no such trips. But it had shown how well the port could be managed through various no-nonsense measures. In record time it had taken efficiency to almost world class level.
And just imagine the laughable pretexts being used this time round to squander CPA's money! When the press questioned the minister concerned about the rationale behind the current trip, he said quite unabashedly, it is necessary, for the Awami League government wants to do better than what the past two-year caretaker government had done! And the deputies and assistants are going along because they have to take notes!! It's not going to be a waste of money, because the parliamentary committee members have four more years to serve, while the others will help with policy guidelines!
On Tuesday, 12 January 2010, a team of at least 17 esteemed men, started a tour of at least five countries within Asia. It was led by Mr Shahjahan Khan, the Shipping Minister and included four members of the parliamentary standing committee concerned, the relevant ministry's joint and deputy secretaries, Mr Khan's personal assistant and other favoured persons. Their avowed mission: to see for themselves how certain sea and land ports in the region are running, such as India's Petrapole and Mumbai, Sri Lanka's Colombo, Malaysia's Kelang and Penang, China's Shanghai and Hong Kong. This trip is supposed to help the entourage gather essential experience to improve Bangladesh's own ports ---- existing ones as well as those in our dreams, such as the proposed Sonadia deep sea port.
And where are the travel expenses coming from? Barring the half a dozen or so businessmen tagging along, the expenses of the good minister's inner circle, of no less than a dozen men, are being paid by the Chittagong Port Authority. The chairman of CPA himself is included in the team, of course.
The amount shelled out for travel and other costs, in this instance, comes to some fifty lakh taka (five million), although, as per rules, the said authority is not obliged to foot the bill for the foreign trips of luminaries like MPs and ministers.
Only employees of CPA are entitled to funds allocated for specific purposes, training in the main. Yet the minister-in-charge, Mr Shahjahan Khan, has repeatedly been recommending the use of this training fund for himself and his friends, according to a recent report in the Prothom Alo. Air tickets alone cost 24 lakhs, 23 thousand, 600 taka. In addition, the 12 have taken 20 lakhs in advance. The CPA Secretary was quoted as saying that designated travelers are entitled to draw up to 80 per cent of their allowance in advance, so there's nothing unusual in this.
It may be mentioned here that only last month Minister Shahjahan Khan and MP Mohiuddin Khan had both enjoyed a year-end holiday in India, together with their spouses, paid for by the same CPA from the same training fund! However, this is not the first time that the powers- that- be have been flouting rules to satisfy themselves. It happened under earlier governments too. And nobody seemed to consider it unethical to 'appropriate' money meant for other purposes, so obtuse is the acquisitive mindset of those in positions of power --- no matter what the colour or the hue!
It has been seen that many government officials during different regimes had gone on CPA-funded foreign trips which had not benefited the premier sea port at all. However, the military- backed caretaker regime, it must be said (for one must give the devil its due), made no such trips. But it had shown how well the port could be managed through various no-nonsense measures. In record time it had taken efficiency to almost world class level.
And just imagine the laughable pretexts being used this time round to squander CPA's money! When the press questioned the minister concerned about the rationale behind the current trip, he said quite unabashedly, it is necessary, for the Awami League government wants to do better than what the past two-year caretaker government had done! And the deputies and assistants are going along because they have to take notes!! It's not going to be a waste of money, because the parliamentary committee members have four more years to serve, while the others will help with policy guidelines!