Left parties sceptical of budget implementation

Critical of money whitening provision
Some left-leaning political parties and organisations on Friday termed the proposed budget for the 2009–2010 financial year ambitious and doubted if whether it could be implemented.
They criticized the finance minister, AMA Muhith, for allowing black money to be whitened, saying criminals, looters and plunderers of national resources have been given incentives by providing them with the opportunity.
The Workers Party of Bangladesh, in a statement, said the biggest challenge the government faced was to implement the objectives of the budget.
The party’s president Rashed Khan Menon and general secretary Bimal Biswas said the budget had no sense of direction about reduction of the income gap between the rich and the poor as well as the rural and the urban people.
hey viewed dependency on black money would endorse and encourage corruption. The party was also critical of inadequate allocation for non-government schools and colleges.
The Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convener, Khalequzzaman, in a statement said the government had violated the constitution by keeping the provision for the whitening of black money. He also said no there was no reason for allocating Tk 410 crore for defence.
The Democratic Left Alliance at a meeting of its central convening committee said the deficit budget would make the country dependent on other countries.
The alliance said the budget had made inadequate allocation for disaster management and it contained no indication about how the government would face natural disasters.
The Democratic Revolutionary Party president, Nirmal Sen, and the general secretary, Mushsrefa Mishu, in a statement termed the budget proposal ambitious and nothing extraordinary.
They said the budget had no specific direction regarding job creation and nothing related to about lakhs of garment and jute factory workers.
The party said with the provision for whitening black money, the budget had encouraged corruption, bribe and criminalisation.
The Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Saiful Huq, in a statement said the budget with such a big deficit would increase the government’s dependence on lenders. He was critical of the budget saying it had no indication about job creation.
The party termed the provision for whitening black money ‘immoral,’ saying the honest investors would be frustrated and it would hold back investment.
The Garments Workers’ Action Council coordinator, AAM Faiz, and member secretary Rafiqul Islam in a statement said the budget was ambitious and a document on implementing the prescription of lenders.
The statement said the proposed budget would not bring about the required changes in society.
They alleged the budget had no direction about changing the lot of some 22 lakh garment factory workers.
The Karmajibi Nari general secretary, Sharmin Kabir, in a statement said the budget proposal had been placed in accordance with the Awami League’s election pledges.
She hailed the budget saying the main challenge before the government was its implementation.
The statement said this is the first time specific allocations had been made for women and it was encouraging.
The Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association chairman, Harun-or-Rashid Hawlader, and member secretary Badiuzzaman Badsha in a statement termed the proposed budget pro-people.
Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote brought out a procession on Bangabandhu Avenue hailing the budget proposal.
The organisation later held a rally where its leaders said the budget would help to turn Bangladesh into a digital country and to eliminate corruption.

Courtesy of NewAgebd