JS gets budget of Tk 332 crore

The Parliament Secretariat Commission yesterday approved a Tk 332.53 crore budget for the Jatiya Sangsad for its development and non-development expenditures in the next fiscal year.

The approval came at the 29th meeting of the commission at the JS Bhaban with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Of the amount, Tk 298.43 crore will be spent on non-development purposes and Tk 34.18 crore on development ones.

The approved budget is 5.60 percent (Tk 17.62 crore) higher than the revised budget of the current fiscal year.

The meeting also approved the projected budget for fiscal 2019-20 and 2020-21. It also okayed the revised budget for the outgoing financial year.

Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Law Minister Anisul Huq and Opposition Leader Raushon Ershad -- who are members of the commission -- were present at the meeting.

Chief Whip ASM Firoz attended the meeting on special invitation.

 At the beginning of the meeting, there was a screening of a video documentary on the ongoing development project on the Parliament Library.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Speaker said the amounts of various allowances were increased.

The payment for overtime during parliament sessions has been raised to Tk 500 from Tk 450, while it will be Tk 350 instead of Tk 300 during the off-session time.

The allowance for lunch or iftar during parliament sessions has been increased to Tk 200 from Tk 150.

Refreshment allowance has been raised to Tk 100 from Tk 50 per person for attending a parliamentary standing committee meeting.

During the meeting, the prime minister asked parliament to increase the number of books at the Parliament Library.

The speaker said the PM put emphasis on collection of books on the parliamentary rules of procedure and practices of different countries.

Currently, the number of books at the Parliament Library is 35,000 while that of booklets is 40,000.