Opposition MPs take Tk 4cr but skip sessions: TIB

TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman speaks at a press conference in the capital on Sunday. Photo: STAR

Lawmakers of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) in the current parliament received Tk 4.01 crore in different allowances over the first four years for attending Jatiya Sangsad sessions but did not attend, according to the Transparency International Bangladesh.

A TIB report released Sunday said the opposition MPs boycotted the parliament for 282 out of 337 working days since the start of the ninth parliament.

It termed the opposition's boycott of Jatiya Sangsad sessions "the negative side of the 9th parliament".

According to the report, quorum crisis between the first and 15th sessions of the parliament caused waste of Tk 59.07 crore. Of the total, Tk 25.21 crore was wasted from the first to seventh sessions while Tk 33.86 from eighth to 15th sessions.

Twenty-four minutes and 27 seconds on average in every working day was wasted due to the quorum crisis, said the report.

A total of Tk 78,000 is spent to run a parliamentary session.

The research conducted on the basis of the eighth and 15 sessions showed total 72 hours and 22 minutes has been wasted during the period.

TIB researchers Morsheda Aktar, Fatema Afroz and Juliet Rozeti presented the report at Brac Centre Inn on Sunday.

The TIB earlier published another two reports on parliament watch in July 2009 and June 2011.