Betar staff protest imposing tax
Temporary artistes and employees at Bangladesh Betar confined the regional director of Rajshahi Betar for one-and-half hours in his office room yesterday, protesting a 10-percent tax at source imposed on their monthly honorariums.
The protestors said the decision was taken in July but was not enforced at any Betar offices in the country following opposition from them. The Betar authorities in Rajshahi, however, started deducting the taxes from their salary last month (September), they said.
The temporary employees said they usually earn between Tk 1800 to Tk 4500 per month, working eight hours a day. The deduction posed a threat to their livelihoods, as they are not given any government allowances and facilities including increment, festival bonus, and house rents, they added.
Freed after police intervention, Nasrullah M Irfan, the regional director, said he supports the artistes' demands as they can hardly cope with what they get working with Betar. “I have nothing to do for them as it is an official order from high-ups for deducting the taxes”.
The temporary staff include singers, announcers, typist, copyists, instrumentalists, lyric compilers, programme secretary, song producer, play producer, computer operator, and booth operators.
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