Kudos to BPC for its tough stance

NOTWITHSTANDING a last-minute trouble-shooting deal between Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Biman, Bangladesh Airlines over the huge arrear fuel bill owed by the latter to the former, we cannot let the thick-skinned Biman default culture go uncommented.

Biman took for granted the BPC largesse and ran up an arrear of Tk 508 crore foolishly hoping that it being a matter between two public sector corporations, the government will bail it out and allow the gross financial indiscipline to continue. Biman needed a heavy dose of shock therapy to be jolted into realising the culpability of what it has been doing to BPC which, thankfully, the energy adviser has administered to them.

BPC not only has to pay cash to buy the fuel, it also has to count the interest that accrues due to non-payment of its bank loans taken for the purpose. It has been grossly immoral for Biman to have attempted to transfer the burden of its losses on some one else's shoulders.

In fact, there is more than merely the rise of cost of aviation fuel that is responsible for the national airliner's losses. Poor management, avoidable system loss, and a very high aircraft-to-manpower-ratio for example, are things that cannot have escaped the notice even of the sightless management, but which the Biman management, including the state minister for civil aviation, chose to do nothing about.

We are constrained to say that the competence of the state minister should now come into question. His only preoccupation seems to be to buy new aircraft, one can understand. Why, without making the least bit of effort to bring in a modicum of efficiency in the running of the national carrier?

It is hard to believe that he did not see the storm coming; why didn't he, if he had an honest, clear and practicable vision of how he was going to pay up, negotiate a rescheduling that would have met the concerns of BPC? In fact, we want to question the minister's ability to run the national airlines. Biman's top management too has to answer for the pervasive internal corruption, heavy-handed trade unionism and monetary waste in the operational and maintenance areas.

Somebody must account for all these and the lessons of the latest Biman expose should not be lost on it.