Food ministry officials’ trip to UK, Turkey: No one knows how much it’ll cost
An 11-member delegation of the food ministry is due to go on a ten-day tour of the UK and Turkey from March 8 but no one knows the schedule and budget yet, raising questions about the need for the trip when the government is watching its expenditure for the pandemic.
The government has put all foreign trips by its ministries and divisions on hold for the pandemic, which has yielded savings of about Tk 2,500 crore in the past two years.
"I think we need to know the cost and validation of the trip."
The tour is meant for training on "food security, safety, risk and crisis management", according to an office order signed by Anima Rani Biswas, deputy secretary of the food ministry. The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the order.
The ministry has not disclosed the tour schedule and the budget yet although it is mandatory to publish the source of expenditure and the purpose of training for transparency.
"A tour has been approved but the date is not fixed yet," said Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, secretary of the food ministry, who is part of the delegation that consists of three additional secretaries, six deputy secretaries and one joint secretary.
When prodded about the budget, she referred the correspondent to Md. Mujiur Rahman, the ministry's additional secretary of administration.
The cost of the trip will depend on how much the airfare will be and what kind of programme will be there, Rahman said.
He, however, does not know the exact numbers. "I am not sure yet -- our finance department can confirm it."
Asked about the purpose of the tour, he said: "Those who are going on this tour will submit a report and share their experiences with those who could not go. This experience will be useful not only for their career but also for their whole life."
Salma Momtaj, additional secretary of the ministry's finance and audit division, seemed in the dark, too.
"I don't know about the cost. Everything has been fixed by the administration department. I can't say anything," she added.
Ronak Sufia Afsara Rahman, chief accounts and finance officer of the food ministry, did not respond to The Daily Star's request for comment.
There is no fixed cost for the trip, according to Md Shah Nawaz Talukder, an additional secretary of the ministry, who is part of the delegation.
"The government will pay whatever it costs -- no extra money will be given. We will submit the bill after the tour is over," he added.
Md Khurshid Iqbal Rezvi, additional secretary of the ministry's planning division and member of the delegation, said the tour is necessary.
"We don't have the advanced technology to take such training in our country. Besides, we haven't been on a tour outside the country for the last two years because of the pandemic, so we are going now," he added.
Analysts, though, are befuddled about the necessity of the tour given the ministry's circumspectness in divulging details on it.
"11 officials are a big number for this tour -- I think we need to know the cost and validation of the trip," said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
There is no need to go abroad for training on food security as Bangladesh has achieved tremendous success in the field, said Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh.
"And I think the socioeconomic perspective of the UK and Turkey is not well-matched with our country. So I don't think it's realistic to go there for food security training."
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