Editorial
Railway dues with others
Default culture eating into its vitals
Startling revelation by the communications minister in the parliament Monday leaves us awe struck. He informed the house that 240 organizations, out of which 206 being government, owe over Taka 12,600 crore to the Bangladesh Railway. He also said that most of the organizations did not pay heed to railways repeated appeals for payment.
The major heads of dues are level crossing, duty for delay, under charges, license fees, sale of railway land and commission bills for unloading goods. The ministry has been trying to realize the dues since 1994 and a committee was also formed for the purpose, but with no tangible outcome. Several inter-ministerial and inter-division committees were formed last November for recovery of the dues.
This is disquieting news for the losing railway sector and also shows poor performance of the ministry and the committees formed to realize the defaulted money.
This huge amount did not accrue overnight. The non- payment of dues by various organizations have gone on for years without being challenged effectively. More surprising and unforgivable is that among the defaulters 206 are government organizations.
Railway has been suffering for a long time now in a context where its modernisation is overdue besides its wholesale overhauling. A smooth and well-organized railway will go a long way to solve the communication problem. The huge unpaid amount lying with different organizations should come in handy to ease up its financial problems and bring a turn around of the vital service sector.
The Ministry, if necessary with the help of other government departments, should go all out to realize the sums owed to railways. Just because the default is within the government does not necessarily preclude tough actions. We must strictly deal with the default culture by applications of all legal means.
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