Tk 58,261cr of eight autonomous orgs left idle in banks

A total of Tk 58,261 crore of eight autonomous organisations are left idle in banks even after they submitted a surplus fund of Tk 15,500 crore to the government exchequer till February this year.

Of the eight, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has a surplus fund of Tk 31,769 crore, Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (PetroBangla) Tk 14,554 crore, Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) Tk 3,842 crore, National University Tk 2,648 crore, Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board  Tk 2180 crore, Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority Tk 1,956 crore, Open University Tk 737 crore and Dhaka Water Supply And Sewerage Authority Tk 575 crore, according to the fund data of the organisations.

The government regulations say independent and autonomous organisations have to submit their surplus money (excluding management costs, project costs) to the state funds within three months of every concluding fiscal year.

Besides, these organisations can keep additional 25 per cent of their annual expenses in their personal funds as management cost amid crisis. Moreover, they can operate separate pension and future funds.

The government approved an act regarding submitting surplus money of state-owned organisations to the government funds in February of 2020, and since then Tk 33,946 crore has been received.

Of the amount, Tk 16,046 crore was submitted in FY 2019-20 and Tk 15,500 crore in FY 2020-21.

Until February 23 of current FY 2021-22, a total of Tk 2,500 crore has been submitted to the state fund.

Although the eight independent organisations should have submitted Tk 9,700 crore from October 2021 to July 2022, they have so far made only Tk 2,400 crore, with the remaining Tk 7,300 crore yet to be dispatched to the government exchequer.

Among them, BPC should have provided Tk 5,000 crore to the government fund but submitted only Tk 1,000 crore, PDB submitted Tk 500 crore against Tk 1,000 crore, National University gave Tk 150 crore against Tk 300 crore, BREB dispatched Tk 300 crore against Tk 500 crore, and BEZA submitted Tk 350 crore against Tk 500 crore.

Meanwhile, only Open University provided the accurate amount of Tk 100 crore to the government fund leaving no dues.

Besides, Petro Bangla is yet to submit its Tk 2,000 crore to the fund and Dhaka WASA has also to submit Tk 300 crore.

Petro Bangla has promised to submit its fund to the Finance Department.

A top official of the Finance Ministry told the Business Post that Dhaka WASA did not submit any money while no representatives from it attended any meeting on this issue.

Member of the Finance members said before forming any law many organisations left their money idle in the banks which significantly increased after addition of interests with time.

Some organisations paid additional bonus to its staff using this money.

Amid the pandemic the law brought many benefits and the government has been utilising them during crisis moment in many sectors.