Finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said there was no benefit by allocating budgetary fund for the public sector jute mills because of falling demand of jute in the global market. He said no allocation would be kept in the budget for 2015-16 for any new school under the monthly payment order that has been destroying the education. No approval for establishment of new industries in the capital would be given to lower pressure on the city, he said.
Muhith made the comments while taking part in a pre-budget discussion with chairmen of the parliamentary standing committees at the planning commission.
Among others, Suranjit Sengupta, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs, Ramesh Chandra Sen, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on ministry of water, Afsarul Amin, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on ministry of education, Munnujan Sufian, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on ministry of labour, Faruk Khan, chairman of parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry and Obaidul Muktadir, chairmen of the parliamentary standing committee on the liberation war affairs took part in the discussion.
Muhith said the government incurred loss of thousands of cores of Taka to provide subsidy to public sector jute mills. He made the remarks while responding to the demand for higher allocation for jute by Munnujan Sufian.
His statement on jute contradicts the government plans to revive the glory of jute, once known as the golden fibre. The government has been encouraging research on jute following discovery of jute genome by a Bangladeshi scientist last year.
Suranjit Sengupta said huge amount of money were being smuggled out of the country as hundreds of Bangladeshis are taking part in the second-home programme in Malaysia.
Obaidul Muktadir said allocation for MPO should be increased. He asked as to why the load shedding increased despite providing huge amount of subsidy to power sector.
Muhith admitted that money had been smuggled out of the country. He said he did not know how to stop the illegal transfer of money from the country. He sought suggestions in this regard.
He said power generation was interrupted due to technical glitch and would be improved soon. He said there would be some allocation in the next budget for MPO for schools but there will be no allocation for new MPO for schools from 2015-16 fiscal year.
Muhith said incentives should be given in the new budget for the entrepreneurs for establishing industry outside the capital. He said expansion of factories and mills in other districts could stop influx of people in the capital after Faruk Khan said acute land shortage was hampering growth.
-With New Age input
