BNP demands withdrawal of duty hike

The opposition BNP demanded in parliament yesterday that the government withdraw its budgetary proposal for hiking tax on newsprint imports.
Expressing deep concern over the proposal, a BNP lawmaker said the country's newspaper industry would face a serious crisis if the proposal was not withdrawn.
“Expenditures of newspaper industries will increase by 28 percent due to the proposed duty on imported newsprint, which will be difficult for them [newspapers] to bear,” Joynal Abdin, a BNP lawmaker from Feni Sadar upazila, told the House while discussing the proposed budget for 2013-14 fiscal year.
He called upon Finance Minister AMA Muhith to restore the earlier set duty on newsprint imports. Opposition lawmakers supported Joynal's statement by thumping their desks.
While placing the budget in parliament on June 6, the finance minister proposed hiking import duty on newsprint for the newspaper industry to 25 percent from the existing 3 percent. It was made effective from that day.
The Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh on Monday called on the finance minister and expressed its concern that if the proposed duty remained in place, the newspaper industry would be ruined.
SELF-CRITICISM OF MP
In a rare instance of self-criticism in parliament, ruling Awami League MP Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam yesterday said a lawmaker gets Tk375 every day when the House is in session. Moreover, a legislator gets Tk1,000 if she/he just signs the attendance register in the House.
“On the contrary, a distressed man gets just Tk10 as daily grant from the government which is a shame for us,” he noted while discussing the proposed budget.
A sector commander in the country's Liberation War, Rafiqul Islam demanded the government increases the allowance for the socially backward people.