Sticking to old path
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Shamsul Huq Zahid
Moves are, reportedly, underway to provide the Members of Parliament (MPs) with duty-free motor vehicles. However, the state, not the MPs, is likely to bear the cost of vehicles and also the expenditure on their regular maintenance this time.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) has recently conveyed the official decision to import vehicles through the directorate of government transports and make available the same to the MPs.
According to a newspaper report, the estimated import cost of vehicles for MPs would be around Tk. 1.5 billion (150 crore). Besides, the government will be deprived of an estimated revenue of Tk 5.5 billion in the form of unpaid duty and taxes.
The military-backed caretaker government had scrapped the law relevant to the duty-free car facilities for the lawmakers through an ordinance. But the incumbent government did not place the ordinance in the first session of the present parliament for adoption, making its intention rather clear.
The majority of the lawmakers of the current parliament are new and, obviously, they do not want to be deprived of the facility that their predecessors had enjoyed since 1988.
But the government, it seems, was in a dilemma over the methods of making the facility available to the MPs. The government is unwilling to give the MPs the freedom to import vehicles of their own choice because of the massive irregularities detected in the past in such imports. Many former MPs, allegedly, had sold their import permits to other individuals or car dealers in exchange for fat amounts. The law enforcers seized a good number of these vehicles during the two-year rule of the caretaker government.
Thus, the government has decided to bear the cost of import of 345 vehicles with capacity not exceeding 3000 cc. There will also be recurring costs. Each of the lawmakers, according to the government plan, will be entitled to Tk. 40,000 per month as car maintenance allowance. In that case, the government would have to spend more than Tk 152 million a year on that account.
Initially, the government wanted to import sedan cars. But the lawmakers pressed for four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles on the plea that cars were not suitable for rural road conditions. And the government conceded to the pressure.
Besides, the ownership of the vehicles might finally go to the lawmakers despite the fact that the government is yet to take a decision to this effect. The Speaker of the parliament, reportedly, has favoured giving the ownership to the MPs out of the consideration that the vehicles would be better maintained if the lawmakers got ownership over the vehicles.
So, it appears from the ongoing moves that the members of the present parliament would be luckier than their predecessors who, barring those who indulged in irregularities, had to pay from their own pocket to import and maintain vehicles.
But have the government and lawmakers, while making the decisions relevant to duty-free vehicles, even for once, taken into consideration the possible reaction of the people? It is unlikely that the men in power and the MPs are unaware of the people's attitude towards making available such facilities at the cost of the public exchequer. Yet they are out to grab the facility that does not go well with their electorates.
It was autocrat Ershad who introduced the duty-free car import facility for the MPs in 1988. Despite widespread criticism, no democratic government since 1991 has scrapped the facility.
There is no denying that lawmakers are important people and they need transport facilities, particularly when the bureaucrats having the rank and status of joint secretary and above are getting government vehicles.
Soon after the incumbent government coming to power, it was also in the news that the government would make available car loan facility and monthly maintenance allowance to senior level bureaucrats, involving a large sum of money. However, someone in the government might have exercised wisdom and dropped the idea.
In the case of lawmakers also, the men in authority do need to take into cognizance the affordability of the state, particularly when the government is failing to make so many essential expenditures because of resource constraints.
Here, the government could well follow the example of neighbouring India, the world's largest democracy and an emerging economic power. The Indian lawmakers are provided with transport facilities while the national parliament remains in session. And beyond that, the lawmakers have to make their own transport arrangements.
It may sound unpalatable though, the fact remains that most lawmakers stay in Dhaka even when the parliament is not in session. So, the demand for making available the expensive 4WDs for traveling in rural areas at ease does not also seem justified.
...........................................
Zahidmar10@gmail.com
Moves are, reportedly, underway to provide the Members of Parliament (MPs) with duty-free motor vehicles. However, the state, not the MPs, is likely to bear the cost of vehicles and also the expenditure on their regular maintenance this time.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) has recently conveyed the official decision to import vehicles through the directorate of government transports and make available the same to the MPs.
According to a newspaper report, the estimated import cost of vehicles for MPs would be around Tk. 1.5 billion (150 crore). Besides, the government will be deprived of an estimated revenue of Tk 5.5 billion in the form of unpaid duty and taxes.
The military-backed caretaker government had scrapped the law relevant to the duty-free car facilities for the lawmakers through an ordinance. But the incumbent government did not place the ordinance in the first session of the present parliament for adoption, making its intention rather clear.
The majority of the lawmakers of the current parliament are new and, obviously, they do not want to be deprived of the facility that their predecessors had enjoyed since 1988.
But the government, it seems, was in a dilemma over the methods of making the facility available to the MPs. The government is unwilling to give the MPs the freedom to import vehicles of their own choice because of the massive irregularities detected in the past in such imports. Many former MPs, allegedly, had sold their import permits to other individuals or car dealers in exchange for fat amounts. The law enforcers seized a good number of these vehicles during the two-year rule of the caretaker government.
Thus, the government has decided to bear the cost of import of 345 vehicles with capacity not exceeding 3000 cc. There will also be recurring costs. Each of the lawmakers, according to the government plan, will be entitled to Tk. 40,000 per month as car maintenance allowance. In that case, the government would have to spend more than Tk 152 million a year on that account.
Initially, the government wanted to import sedan cars. But the lawmakers pressed for four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles on the plea that cars were not suitable for rural road conditions. And the government conceded to the pressure.
Besides, the ownership of the vehicles might finally go to the lawmakers despite the fact that the government is yet to take a decision to this effect. The Speaker of the parliament, reportedly, has favoured giving the ownership to the MPs out of the consideration that the vehicles would be better maintained if the lawmakers got ownership over the vehicles.
So, it appears from the ongoing moves that the members of the present parliament would be luckier than their predecessors who, barring those who indulged in irregularities, had to pay from their own pocket to import and maintain vehicles.
But have the government and lawmakers, while making the decisions relevant to duty-free vehicles, even for once, taken into consideration the possible reaction of the people? It is unlikely that the men in power and the MPs are unaware of the people's attitude towards making available such facilities at the cost of the public exchequer. Yet they are out to grab the facility that does not go well with their electorates.
It was autocrat Ershad who introduced the duty-free car import facility for the MPs in 1988. Despite widespread criticism, no democratic government since 1991 has scrapped the facility.
There is no denying that lawmakers are important people and they need transport facilities, particularly when the bureaucrats having the rank and status of joint secretary and above are getting government vehicles.
Soon after the incumbent government coming to power, it was also in the news that the government would make available car loan facility and monthly maintenance allowance to senior level bureaucrats, involving a large sum of money. However, someone in the government might have exercised wisdom and dropped the idea.
In the case of lawmakers also, the men in authority do need to take into cognizance the affordability of the state, particularly when the government is failing to make so many essential expenditures because of resource constraints.
Here, the government could well follow the example of neighbouring India, the world's largest democracy and an emerging economic power. The Indian lawmakers are provided with transport facilities while the national parliament remains in session. And beyond that, the lawmakers have to make their own transport arrangements.
It may sound unpalatable though, the fact remains that most lawmakers stay in Dhaka even when the parliament is not in session. So, the demand for making available the expensive 4WDs for traveling in rural areas at ease does not also seem justified.
...........................................
Zahidmar10@gmail.com