Biman
The news item captioned 'Biman boss hits back at Quader' published in the front page of your esteemed daily on Thursday, 19th August has caught my attention.
It is not correct that since Biman has been turned into a company it is no longer accountable to the govt. Whether it is called a company or a corporation the fact remains that it is fully owned by the govt. and as such it is accountable to the minister and his secretary to the govt.
As regards corruption less said is better. There is an ex-Air Force coterie in Biman which is allegedly siphoning off crores of taka and millions of dollars. Only one fictitious agent reputedly has siphoned off more than Taka 700 crores in the past 7 years.
A commercial airline like Biman should be run by commercial people. At one time there was a proposal that Biman's 67 percent shares should be sold to a reputed airline and an evaluation of its assets were carried out with financial help from the World Bank. Biman should seriously look for a strategic partner selling out at least 67 percent shares to a reputed airline. Thai Airways was initially formed with 98 percent shares of SAS. Over the years Thai Airways bought back the shares and it is now an independent airline, one of the best in the industry.
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