Tk 12,600cr of railway stuck in audit objection

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday formed four sub-committees in an effort to expedite actions regarding 1,742 unresolved audit objections involving Tk 14, 848 crore since FY 2000-2001.Of the huge amount, audit objections against Bangladesh Railway (BR) alone involve Tk 12,600 crore, said the office of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a report placed before the PAC yesterday. Officials at the office of CAG told The Daily Star yesterday that the objections were raised against the BR due to its failure in collecting Tk 12, 535 as transport fares from various public and private organisations for the last few decades. During the tenure of the last parliament, the PAC at a meeting on April 25, 2006, discussed one of 18 sections of the audit objections against BR, reported by the office of CAG in FY 2000-01. It asked the state-run organisation to sort out those that did not pay the fares. The then PAC also asked the BR to submit a report to the committee but the BR did not come up with the report, said officials of the office of CAG. However, BR Director General Belayet Hossain told The Daily Star that an effort was made in 2005 to realise the arrears. A committee was formed and letters were sent to secretaries of the ministries concerned asking them to take steps in this regard. But nothing has been done till date, he said. Had the arrears been realised, the money could be used for development of the loss-incurring BR, which now runs on government subsidy, said the BR director general.CAG office sources however said they will be able to assist the BR in realising the longstanding arrears if the PAC-formed sub-committees look into the matter.The four sub-committees will examine the audit objections and make recommendations for the PAC to dispose the objections either by realising the money from the people responsible for the financial damage or settling the objections, if necessary. "We shall finalise the terms of reference for the sub-committees soon," PAC Chairman KH Rashiduzzaman told reporters after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Bhaban. He said the PAC would take necessary steps on recommendations of the sub-committees. He, however, declined to give details about the sub-committees. Officials attending the meeting said Awami League (AL) lawmakers Prof Ali Ashraf, Khandaker Asaduzzaman and Khan Tipu Sultan and BNP lawmaker MK Anwar were made chiefs of the sub-committees. Other members will be included soon, they added.The CAG in its report said a total of 98 audit reports with 1,742 objections were placed before the parliament since FY 2000-2001. The office of CAG has already submitted 78 more audit reports on FY 2003-2004, FY 2004-05 and FY 2005-06 to the president and those will be placed before the parliament soon. AUDIT OBJECTIONS AGAINST BR CAG office sources said they prepared the audit report on BR under the communications ministry in FY 2000-2001, examining BR's previous accounts. "We found that a huge amount of money remained unrealised," a senior high-up of the office of CAG said referring to the longstanding objections on collection of transport fares. Officials in the finance division of BR said the jute ministry alone owes Tk 9,239 crore to the BR as transport fares while some arrears date back to 1955. "The actual amount of arrears was quite small in the beginning. But, it got bigger every year with the addition of interests," the BR director general told The Daily Star. Most jute mills including Adamjee were shut down without paying their outstanding dues to the BR while the amount continued to grow with the addition of interests. The Department of Relief and Rehabilitation under the food and disaster management ministry owes the second largest amount of arrears totalling Tk 2,752 crore to the BR. The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) owes about Tk 7.39 crore to the BR. The DCC constructed Nagar Bhaban at Fulbaria and the city corporation market on BR's lands without paying any price.When contacted, DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told The Daily Star, "The land was allotted to the Dhaka City Corporation before I took office. Nobody informed me about the outstanding dues during my tenure."