1,400 deputy secretaries get Tk30 lakh in car loans each

Deputy secretaries of the Bangladesh Government will get Tk30 lakh in car loans and a monthly allowance of Tk50,000 for car maintenance from October. The proposal was approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina two weeks ago, said the Ministry of Finance. A gazette notification was issued from the Ministry of Public Administration in this regard on Tuesday. According to the revised policy for car loans in the notification, the Tk30 lakh loans will have to be repaid in 120 equal installments to government exchequers. The government will enforce a 15% interest rate for any unpaid installments. New cars or those up to five years old may be bought by public servants through the facility, including both sedans and jeeps. The loans will be offered on a priority-basis, depending on merit and seniority, the gazette notification said. When contacted, Finance Division Senior Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told Dhaka Tribune: “Officers tend to stay late at night and generally work harder than regular staff members. They deserve these benefits.” Furthermore, the notification said that priority officials would not be able to avail the benefit if they had less than one year of service remaining or if there was insufficient money to support payment of the installments in their gratuity and pension funds. Another circular may be published with further revisions, the gazette notification added. Previously, only joint and additional secretaries could avail the car loan facilities, and now 1,479 deputy secretaries will join them. Currently, Tk8 crore is allocated in the budget for the procurement and maintenance of vehicles for joint and additional secretaries. With the inclusion of deputy secretaries, the budget is estimated to increase to Tk49 crore. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Administration had previously approved the increase of the car maintenance allowance from Tk45,000 per month to Tk50,000 at a meeting two weeks ago, resulting in an additional Tk3 crore necessary for the budget. However, both the Public Administration and Finance Ministries had also rejected a proposal to increase employees’ guest allowances by Tk230 per month at the meeting. Home loan facilities available for government staff remains at Tk1.2 lakhs, with a 15% interest rate. Another appeal to increase the gratuity rate against pension from Tk230 to Tk300 against Tk1 for all government employees was rejected by the Ministry of Finance.