Tough anti-graft drive underway

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the country would advance one step ahead through implementing the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.
Delivering her budget speech in Parliament, the premier warned that the government had started a tough anti-corruption drive, and those involved in corruption would face the music, whoever he or she was.
She mentioned that though the default loans in the banking sector were falling, a certain quarter was trying to amplify the figure through jugglery.

"In 2009, when the country had a GDP size of 102.6 billion US dollars, the default loans in the banking system were worth Tk 220 billion (22,000 crore), or 10.5 per cent of the GDP.
"But now our GDP is 460 billion US dollars and the default loans at Tk 1.55 trillion (155,000 crore), or 9.9 per cent of the GDP," the Prime Minister told the Jatiya Sangsad (JS).
She felt that some people were trying to project a huge surge in default loans in the banking system by showing the amount instead of quoting the percentage. Defending the black money whitening provision of the proposed budget she said that the prices of everything had gone up and due to this a person who owned a katha of land in the capital turned a millionaire.
'So, when they get excess money through doing something with their assets, they cannot show this as their income, and thus failed to pay the tax," the Prime Minister said. The black money whitening provision was kept in the budget so that such excess wealth earners could pay tax.
It would enable them to be included in the category of general taxpayers and encourage them not to evade tax in future, she explained.
In this connection, she mentioned that former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her Finance Minister Saifur Rahman also took the advantage of whitening black money. Hasina in her speech elaborated the steps taken by her government to build Bangladesh as a prosperous and developed country by 2041.
On the criticism of the special act for the power sector projects, she said that due to this provision the country got rid of the unbearable power crisis through generation of more power by the private sector plants.
"I have directed the power ministry not to go for any load shedding in the rural areas," she said. She might direct the concerned agencies to conduct load shedding in the residential areas like Gulshan and Banani, home to the wealthy class of people, she added. The Prime Minister made it clear that everybody had to pay for the electricity they were using.
Hasina said that the government introduced the Universal Pension Scheme through which the people of the lower income group would also be benefited.
Under the 'Samata' policy of the UPS, if a person pays Tk 500 monthly, the government will also pay Tk 500 for him.
A person who will pay Tk 2000 monthly, can get Tk 24932 per month after 30 years, the Leader of the House mentioned.
The Prime Minister said her government introduced Metro Rail, which emerged as the safest means for commuting for people, especially for women.
Hasina said her government had a plan to extend the marine drive from Feni to Cox's Bazar so that there could be an expansion in trade and industrialisation in the adjacent areas, where several economic zones were in operation.
She told the finance minister to withdraw the budget proposal for imposing 1.0 per cent tax on the industries in the hi-tech parks and economic zones.
This should be scrapped to attract more foreign investment and branding Bangladesh as a lucrative investment destination, she said urging the finance minister to withdraw the 1.0 per cent customs duty on the import of capital machinery for the factories in the hi-tech parks and economic zones.
The Prime Minister said her government had taken a lot of steps to curb inflation and hoped that very soon the people would get the result.
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