Ruling Awami League lawmaker and former foreign minister AK Abdul Momen told Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday that the image of the government was being tarnished due to corruption of a section of bureaucrats.
鈥楾he way the prime minister has maintained the pace of development for the past 16 years is a wonder to the world. Currently, the main obstacle to sustaining this growth is corruption,鈥� he said taking part in a general discussion on the proposed budget for the financial year 2024-25.
鈥楧ue to this corruption, the image of the government is being tarnished. Projects are not being completed on time due to this corruption. As a result, the cost increases and harassment of the people increases. A section of the bureaucrats have聽 become corrupt and this is increasing the harassment of the public,鈥� he said.
Momen said that the whole bureaucracy was sharing a bad name with these few corrupt bureaucrats.
The prime minister has announced a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, he said, adding that measures have been taken in this budget to stop corruption and money laundering and the steps will help in gaining public confidence.
鈥業t is the need of the hour to make annual declaration of movable and immovable assets of public servants,鈥� he said, adding that a few corrupt officials are ruining the reputation of the country.
Transparency, accountability and strict punishment in these matters will reduce corruption, he said.
鈥楢s a representative of the people, we have a relationship with common people in the field. Common citizens are facing many challenges now. So they are all looking towards prime minister Sheikh Hasina,鈥� he said.
Momen said that the people had big questions about rising commodity prices, generating more employment, revenue growth and rampant corruption and administrative harassment.
Momen said that thousands of working people were migrating abroad legally and illegally every year due to insufficient employment in the country.
He said that employment or entrepreneurship creation was usually done by the private sector.
鈥楾hat is why they should have the opportunity to take sufficient bank loans. In this year鈥檚 budget, the government is taking a loan of Tk 1,37,000 crore from the banking sector to meet the budget deficit. This means that private investors can be deprived of loans,鈥� he said.
Momen said that banks were already in a bad condition and it would have been possible to bring back confidence of the public if there had been a remedy in the budget.
鈥楻ather, honest taxpayers are disappointed with the announcement to legalise undisclosed money with a 15 per cent tax,鈥� he said.