The Finance Ministry yesterday paid out Tk29.49cr for another month of blockade and hartal policing, pushing security expenditures for the political showdown, now in its 55th day, up to Tk138.29cr.
Bangladesh Police received Tk19.49cr to cover patrolling costs and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) got Tk10cr to boost its rural presence.
Finance Division officials said Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday approved a Home Ministry proposal to meet policing costs during the political showdown, especially targeting lawlessness outside the capital.
The Finance Division disbursed the funds from the Tk1,500cr Unexpected Expenditure Management title of the current budget.
In a recent statement, the finance minister said political programmes should spare economic activities at the district level for the sake of the country’s economic health.
“There has been no disruption to lives and businesses in Dhaka during the blockade,” Muhith said, but described the situation in the districts as “very serious.”
“So, our job is to bring the situation outside Dhaka back to normal,” he said.
As requests for policing funds from different government agencies piled up at the Finance Division, officials said only around half of the requests had been granted so far.
A Finance Division official, asking not to be named, said: “With no end in sight to the ongoing political stalemate, the unremitting cost of maintaining law and order across the country is taking its toll on the government.”
“We are facing enormous pressure regarding funding demands of Tk214.7cr from the Home Ministry, Railway Ministry and Roads and Highways Division for added security. The [Finance] division has so far disbursed Tk138.29cr from the Unexpected Expenditure Management title of this fiscal year’s budget,” the official said.
He said the funds paid for blockade security operations carried out by the police, BGB and Bangladesh Ansar.
PM Sheikh Hasina told parliament on Wednesday that the country had suffered losses of over Tk120,000cr in the first 52 days of the BNP-led 20-party alliance blockade.
