The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Quorum crisis has eaten up Tk 5.42 crore while operating the maiden session of the Jatiya Sangsad, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) revealed in its report on "Parliament Watch."

TIB released the report through a roundtable at BRAC Centre Inn in the city yesterday where deputy Speaker of Parliament Shawkat Ali was present as the chief guest.

Secretary General of TIB Trustee Board Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed chaired the function, which was also attend by veteran parliamentarians, bureaucrats and civil society members.

TIB revealed that the daily waste of time in the first session of the current Jatiya Sangsad due to quorum crisis was about 40 minutes and Taka 35,000 is spent per minute for conducting Jatiya Sangsad.

According to statistics, nearly Taka 5,41,80,000 was squandered for loss of 1548 minutes due to quorum crisis in the parliament, the report said which was placed at the roundtable by TIB research fellow Tanveer Mahmud.

Addressing the function, Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali said the role of MPs in local government activities must be harmonised for solving local problems.

"We've got the Upazila Parishad Act by way of inheritance and we've to again think of it to remove the problems," he said when asked what will be the role of MPs in the local government activities.

He emphasized the need for the continuity of parliament to strengthen the country's democratic process and ensure welfare of the people.

Shawkat Ali said the time of parliament proceedings should be extended up to 7-8 hours and it could be held both in the morning and in the evening. "There should be a parliamentary calendar so that the MPs could know the detailed activities of parliament."

The Deputy Speaker said the parliamentary standing committees should not be given the executive power but their decisions should be implemented.

Former Deputy Speaker Prof Ali Ashraf said, "Let the parliamentary democracy continue and we need to be careful so that it is never interrupted in the future."

He said a code of conduct for the MPs should be formulated to ensure accountability and transparency in democratic system of the government.

Justice Abdur Rauf said decisions taken by the parliamentary standing committees should be discussed in parliament so that its activities could be strengthened.

Awami League Presidium Member Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, MP, BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, JSD Executive President Moinuddin Khan Badal, AL leaders Professor Ali Ashraf, MP, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, and Junaid Ahmed Palak, MP, Rasheda Begum Heera, MP, Ambassador Waliur Rahman and TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman took part in the discussion.

Earlier, in 2001-2006, TIB published six reports after observing 23 sessions of the eighth parliament and in continuation of it, TIB started research activities from the first day of the first session of the current parliament.