Lawmakers come down heavily on caretaker govt

No need of caretaker system, says Suranjit
Lawmakers came down very heavily on the immediate past caretaker government for making a Taka 94,140 crore additional budgetary allocations for the fiscal 2008- 2009 as the general discussions on supplementary budget continued in the Jatiya Sangsad [JS] for the second day yesterday.
They said, despite enough allocations in the supplementary budget, the caretaker government could not attain desired development of the country because of its lack of efficiency and skills. ‘Even they could not properly spent the allocation that forced them to slash the size of strategic ADP from Taka 25,600 crore to Taka 23,000 crore”, they observed.
Taking part in the general discussions, AL lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta alleged that the caretaker government had resorted to “cruellest repressions” on political leaders of the country.
Senior Awami League parliamentarian Suranjit fired a salvo at Fakhruddin’s caretaker government he dubbed apolitical, unconstitutional and repressive, disagreeing to pass the supplementary budget part spent by that interim regime.
Participating in general debate on the supplementary budget for the outgoing fiscal 2008-09, he named the two-year emergency regime as IMF-a trio of Iajuddin, Moinuddin and Fakhruddin.
Sengupta wondered how they would approve “the three Uddins’ budget” as their emergency regime “imposed the budget on the nation, vilified politicians, arrested and tortured them on false charges and ransacked politics with a vile mission of introducing a perverted politics”.
He mentioned the names of Deputy Leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Sheikh Selim, Kazi Zafrullah, Abdul Jalil, Tofael Ahmed and Eng Mosharraf Hossain who were either jailed, tortured or harassed by the Fakhruddin government. Even, he said, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina was interned for 11 months under their rule.
He said if they had right to vote on this budget of Fakhruddin, they would never do it.
Sengupta, who is one of those who took a stand for political reforms during the interim period, contended emergency in perpetuity is nowhere mentioned in the Bangladesh constitution and nowhere in other democracies of the world.
“One may cite the ‘doctrine of necessity’, but it must be validated by the Supreme Court, as done in 1979,” he told the House.
He was also critical of Khaleda Zia’s coalition rule, calling it ‘KTN (Khaleda, Tarique, Nizami)’ government responsible for not only price spirals during their rule but also responsible for the killing of former Finance Minister SAMS Kibria, Ahsanullah Master and Ivy Rahman and charging grenades on Sheikh Hasina and himself on August 21.
The seasoned parliamentarian vehemently opposed the provision of caretaker government, saying that they can no longer trust this system to put the country again under emergency. He said after the governing of the country for five years, the election commission will conduct the elections.
He said the Fakhruddin government does not deserve any credit for preparing voter list or holding free and fair election. Fair voter list and fair election were arranged in the wake of people’s demand, and the election commission conducted it accordingly.
Sengupta was critical of the Finance Minister for not adequately mentioning in his budget speech the Fakhruddin government’s anti-democratic activities. He said the Finance Minister in his speech only stated “little farsightedness” of that government.
“Was it the result of only ‘little farsightedness’?”
He questioned, and hoped that the Finance Minister would incorporate this sentiment in his concluding speech on the budget.
He said that the rich tradition and heritage of our superior courts were tarnished during the caretaker administration.
Sengupta, who is also the presidium member of Awami League, alleged that the caretaker government lodged various cases against the politicians to undermine them in society.
“Caretaker government made desperate attempts to destroy country’s politics,” he said adding ” There is no need of the caretaker system of governance in the country.”
Treasury bench member and Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said neither the present government nor the present finance minister prepared this supplementary budget. But for the sake of continuity the present government would have to own the budget, he added.
Referring to the move to impose a so-called ‘national charter’ by the caretaker administration, Rashed Kahn Menon said the credit of holding a world-wide acclaimed free, fair and neutral election mainly goes to the general masses who at the very first chance gave their mandate in favour of a democratic force.
Menon alleged that in a move to implement the IMF’s ‘agenda’ the caretaker government rendered workers jobless and shattered the country’s total economy.
Referring to the anti-corruption drives of the caretaker government, Menon said ‘it was in fact launched not against corruption, but the politics as a whole. “While criticising the caretaker government for its failure in streamlining its moves, we have to bear it in our mind that under no circumstances we should stop our crusade against corruption and other vices,” he observed.
Another treasury bench lawmaker and president of JSD Hasanul Haq Innu, while paying some tributes to the caretaker government, said in its supplementary budget efforts were made to bring national economy out of the grip of ‘free market economy’ just at a moment when other nations had to surrender to this vicious domain.
He said allocation of Taka 300 crore in power sector, reducing interest rate on bank’s loan, protecting RMG (readymade garments] sector from being sick industries, reducing rate of inflation from 9.9 per cent to 7 per cent were some of the bold steps of the caretaker administration.
He, however, said that the administrative machinery of the caretaker government was undisciplined and inefficient. The reasons behind reducing ADP’s size were the lack of efficiency of the government.
The other parliament members taking part in the general discussions on the supplementary budget included Junaid Ahmed Palak [ Natore], Salma Islam [Mohila seat], Mahbub Ara Gini [Gaibandah], K. M Khalid [ Mymensingh], Tanvir Shakil Joy [Sirajganj], Begum Sanjida Khanom [Dhaka], Zillul Hakim [Rajbari], Abdullah Al Islam Jacob [Bhola], Ranjit Kumar Roy [Jessore], Moazzem Hossain Ratan [Sunamganj], Omar Faruque Chowdhury [Rajshahi], Mohammd Abdul Wadud [Rajshahi], Dr. Hmaida Banu Sova [Mohila seat], Talukder Mohammad Yunus [Barisal], Jahirul Haq Bhuyian [Narsindi], Mohammad Merajuddin Mollah (Rajshahi) and Begum Zinnatunessa Talukder (Mohila seat).
The participants observed that the caretaker government had created a total uncertainty in country’s political arena. They said it should be properly examined how such a big amount of money allocated in the supplementary budget was spent.
They also criticised various ‘misdeeds’ and ‘misrules’ of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government and said that the present administration has to carry many legacies of that regime.
They highlighted various achievements of the present government during a short span of time and observed that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina it has successfully arrested price hike of essentials including rice and supplied fertilisers and other agri-inputs to the farmers on time.
In an unequivocal term, the participants lauded the finance minister for courageously presenting the proposed national budget 2009-2010 and the supplementary budget for the fiscal 2008-2009.
 
Courtesy of AGENCIES, DHAKA