Parjatan corporation bill passed amid opposition
The draft law proposes increasing the authorised capital from Tk 150 million to Tk 10 billion and the paid-up capital from Tk 500,000 to Tk 4 billion
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali's Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (Amendment) Bill was passed through voice vote in Parliament on Tuesday amid displeasure of the opposition lawmakers.
The opposing voices said the new bill lacked any special incentives to develop the tourism sector.
Rumeen Farhana, of the BNP's reserved seat, said, "Despite having excellent tourist spots in the country, our tourism is not developing due to inefficiencies, incompetence, corruption and poor communication system, alongside inadequate infrastructure. The harassment of female tourists has become commonplace," she said.
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Taking the floor, Jatiya Party MP Shamim Haider Patyari said not much was being done to attract tourists to Bangladesh, although the sector had the potential to create many jobs and generate revenue. In this case, innovation and inclusion was required, but it was not happening, he added.
Mukabbir Khan of Gonoforum said that despite the potential in the country, Bangladesh was in the lowest position in the tourism industry in South Asia.
He said people were frustrated by the mismanagement of the government in the sector and while the minister had bought a few amendments to the law, those would not help develop the sector.
Jatiya Party's Kazi Firoz Rashid said, "Bureaucratic complexity is a major obstacle to the development of the tourism industry. It's so complicated that no one will enter the industry."
In the new bill, the authorised capital of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation has been increased from Tk15 crore to Tk1,000 crore. Besides, the paid up capital will be increased to Tk400 crore.
Furthermore, the existing law stipulates that a person away from home for travel and leisure can be gone for more than 24 hours but less than six months. In the passed bill, this has been revised to a year. Those going for jobs, however, will not be considered tourists.
The bill also states that the Parjatan Corporation will be able to operate and manage duty-free shops.
