The Eighth National Pay and Services Commission has recommended a separate state-run bank for the welfare of the country’s public servants – both on and off service – despite a huge capital shortage currently faced by the state-run banks.
The recommendation was made by pay commission Chairman Dr Mohammad Farashuddin, who went to the Finance Ministry to submit the final report on pay-scale upgrade for government employees yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference after his visit to the ministry, the pay commission chairman said the government servants’ welfare fund would sell land near the Dainik Bangla intersection in Motijheel to set up the bank, named “Shamriddhir Shopan.”
The bank would be set up with a paid up capital of Tk400 crore, to be operated on both development and commercial bases.
The face value of each share of the bank will be Tk4,000, to be owned by government employees, and the bank will grant loans to government employees at interest rate below 10%, he added.
He also said the management of government fund for the public servants’ welfare, insurance and pension fund should be reorganised and more empowered so that it can function independently and contribute to the betterment of government employees.
Unless the welfare fund management is made stronger, it will not be possible to set up the proposed bank, Farashuddin pointed out.
“The director of the bank will be elected by the 130,000 government employees,” the pay commission chairman said.
Sources at the Finance Ministry said the proposed new bank would be similar to the Trust Bank Limited, which is run by the Army Welfare Trust.
Recently completing 14 years of operations, Trust Bank was listed on the country’s bourses in Dhaka and Chittagong in 2007.
However, the recommendation was opposed by former caretaker government adviser AM Mirza Azizul Islam, who said: “I do not support the establishment of a new state-run bank when the existing state-run banks, especially Sonali and BASIC Banks, are facing capital shortage at present.”
The government gave Tk4,100 crore to the state-run banks in the last fiscal year to cover their capital shortage. This fiscal year, Sonali Bank and BASIC Bank sought Tk1,500 crore from the budget, which would be burden on the government, he said.
