Staff Reporter :The country has been losing revenue of about Tk 2000 crore per day due to underway hartal and blockade. In view of this, FBCCI and BKMEA separately urged all the political parties to avoid hartal and blockade programme, otherwise they will seek legal protection against such programme.President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed at an urgent press conference in the chamber building on Saturday said it.President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) AKM Selim Osman, MP, in a separate statement made the similar demand for the greater interest.The on-going political programme is giving bad message to the local and foreign investors and the country’s economy as a whole, the FBCCI president said.”We never thought of legal protection before. But in view of current situation, we shall be compelled to seek legal protection if law covers,” Kazi Akram said.He said that the board of members of the FBCCI (Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry) had authorised him to go for legal protection as they did not want to get affected further.Earlier, the FBCCI leaders in a meeting discussed the current political situation to find out way to overcome crisis.Responding to a question, Kazi Akram said that before the January-5 elections they met the top leaders of Awami League and BNP, but there had been no positive outcome.”We do not want to get affected further. Business people will do business and politicians will do politics,” he said adding that for the sake of country’s economy, they will seek legal remedy.The FBCCI President said, transport, industrial production and tourism sectors are the worst affected. “The transport sector alone suffers a loss of Tk 200 crore every day and the total loss of the country around Tk 2000 crore per day.”He said there might be negative impacts on the banking sector as the number of classified loans is on the rise.Hartal or blockade programme generally causes huge economic losses to the country and the businesspeople count the maximum losses, he added.”The ongoing political instability is not only hurting the economy, but also hampering normal public life, especially the students and examinees,” he said.”If we want to elevate Bangladesh to the level of the middle-income group of countries, all need to avoid confrontation and negative political programmes,” he added.The FBBCI urged the government to waive interest accrued on bank loan as production is being hampered due to the blockade programme.Kazi Akram also urged the political parties to withdraw destructive political programmes. “We expect that political parties will find out a solution through fruitful discussions.”FBCCI first Vice-President Monwara Hakim Ali, Vice-President M Helal Uddin and directors of the FBCCI board were present in the press conference.
