The DSCC has recently sought the approval for a Tk 483.40 billion “Procurement of vehicles and machinery for repairing potholes on different roads and upgrading traffic management project” from the Planning Commission, as per a local daily report.
The City Corporation proposed to buy three automatic pothole patcher machines and a road marking machine, which are relevant to the repair of potholes and road sign improvement. According to the project proposal, the DSCC would spend about half of the total Tk 483.50 million for purchasing the three potholes patcher machines and a road marking machine.
The problem does not lie with these expenditures but with the fact that, for example, along with registration fees, a luxury jeep will cost Tk 9.6 million, or 2.0 per cent of total project outlay. Similarly there remains a question as to why an ambulance and freezer vans are needed for road repair work.
DSCC officials are hardly paragons of virtue — which is why two senior officials have been sacked recently for indulging in undocumented expenditures because they were allegedly close to the outgoing Mayor. Of course corruption by public officials is hardly punishable.
What is unacceptable is that those officials powerful enough are using their discretion to go for undocumented expenditures at their whim by abusing the power they have due to close connections with members of the ruling party. Studies have observed that where democracy is weaker, corruption tends to be more widespread, governments are more likely to repress opposition parties, and the impartial functioning of public administration is jeopardised.
So in essence, the government has given the bureaucracy carte blanche to commit or indulge in corruption with very little fear of actually getting caught, especially if they have links with high ups of the ruling party. So long as they kowtow to the government they are immune due to the Sarkari Chakri Bill-2018 which makes it mandatory for the Anti-Corruption Commission to take permission from the appropriate authorities before arresting any highly placed government official on charges of abuse of funds .Thereafter the Anti-Corruption Commission gets busy grilling the officials.
In such a situation it will be almost impossible for the ACC to arrest any official if the government does not want to. That’s why in the case of the two above officials who were let go no further charges were placed against them. Most officials don’t care about indulging in corruption as they know that they will at the most be dismissed without any further charges. This attitude of the government has incentivized corruption in the bureaucracy.
Money is urgently needed in the health sector as well as to help the poor and unemployed lakhs of people. So many jobless migrant workers are returning as well. They will need financial support. It is widely known that under this umbrella of seeking public funds purchasing unnecessary items is part of corruption business. We ask all those who have spent public money for personal gain to change that habit. Public money is needed by the people in these hard days.
