Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon on Wednesday said Biman Bangladesh Airlines is rife with numerous allegations as it is suffering from both accountability and manpower crises.
He came up with the remarks while taking part in the general discussion on the national budget for 2017-18 fiscal year.
Menon, however, said steps have been taken to improve the condition of Biman Bangladesh Airlines which was turned into a public limited company during the caretaker government tenure in 2007-08.
Mentioning that Biman has been declared as an essential service sector, he said a committee has been formed by the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry to put forward suggestions to bring radial change to the National Flag carrier. “After receiving the recommendations, those will be sent to the Prime Minister for the final approval.” He said new aircraft have also been inducted into the Biman fleet.
Talking about the country’s tourism sector, the minister said it is now at the take-off stage.
Noting that if one foreign tourist comes to the country, it creates scope of work for 11 people, he said, “We’ve set a target to bring 10 lakh foreign tourists to the country in the coming calendar year of 2018.”
About the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, Menon, also Workers Party president, said the Finance Minister does not know what will be the impact of 15 percent VAT. “It’ll come as a blow to the middle-income people,” he said.
He also hoped that Muhith will consider the matter and the Prime Minister can interfere in it if necessary.
The Minister also demanded withdrawing the additional excise duty from bank accounts.
Turning to the election-time government, he said BNP started hatching conspiracy after the announcement of the election road map by the Election Commission. “They started to say there will be no election under Sheikh Hasina. Then under which government the election will be held? Because, there’s no provision of election-time supportive government in the Constitution,” he said.
Observing that the election should be held under Sheikh Hasina, Menon said, “If BNP skips the polls, it’ll be their mistake. It’ll turn into a party like Muslim League. It’s evident before our eyes,” he said.
