Staff reporter :
As many as 262 vehicles that were purchased for projects undertaken by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, remained traceless as those were not returned to the central transport pool after completion of the projects.
The matter came to the surface on Thursday when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts discussed an audit objection related to the government transport at its meeting, reports the media. The committee, however, asked the ministry concerned, the central transport pool authorities, and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General to form a joint probe body and submit its findings within two months, according to the Parliament Secretariat.
An official of the secretariat, preferring anonymity, said the vehicles were procured on different occasions for various projects of the ministry, but none of those were returned to the transport pool even after completion of the respective projects.
“An audit objection raised by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in this regard was discussed in the meeting,” the official said.
Moreover, the parliamentary standing committee recommended placing, in the next meeting, the progress report of the case filed over the financial losses of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) due to the deficit of 775 quintal jute in its warehouse.
Besides, the committee also asked to form another probe body comprising officials from the Ministry of Textiles and Jute, the Bangladesh Textiles Mills Corporation (BTMC), and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General to look into the financial loss worth Tk1,222,518, mentioned in another audit objection.
The financial loss was the result of the deficit of jute and yarn produced by the BTMC.
In the meeting, the committee discussed another financial loss worth over Tk26.85 crore due to the recruitment of additional workers in the state-run UMC Jute Mills in Narsingdi beyond the government approval.
The meeting also discussed the recovery of Tk757.84 crore that 17 mills, now in private ownership, owe to the government.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts recommended forming a joint probe committee including Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, BTMC, and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and asked to submit a complete report on the 17 mills within the next four months.
Chaired by Md Rustum Ali Faraji, the meeting was attended by lawmakers Abul Kalam Azad, Md Abdus Shahid, Md Afsarul Amin, and Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker, among others.
