People tighten their belts while public money flows down the drain

Illustration: TBS

Can you remember those DEMU trains which were meant to facilitate short-distance travel on the rail? 

Back in 2013, the government (rail division) bought 20 units of diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) trains. According to a report published in this daily, the whole process of buying these trains cost the government a whopping amount of around Tk645 crore, which is, of course, public money. Now, only after nine years, none of those DEMU trains are operational, even though the lifespan of these trains was projected to be around 35 years. 

These trains have bitten the dust mainly due to the mismanagement and inefficiency of the rail authority, despite the fact that eight government officers were sent on study tours (as part of project implementation) to gather technical and operational knowledge, at a cost of around Tk48 lakh and 36 thousand. This amount of money is also taxpayers' money. 

It can be said without a shadow of a doubt that the funds spent for the DEMU project were a sheer waste of public money as it is not yielding any benefit for the public at the moment. 

Every other day we come across news in different dailies of similar instances of wastage of public money as a result of different government offices and bodies taking up different flawed or botched-up projects. While nobody in the hierarchy of the state organs or the government raise much concern about this, it is ultimately the public and the taxpayers whose money is being wasted. 

The cavalier attitude of monolithic government departments and officials involved in managing and implementing projects funded by money of the beleaguered taxpayers is mind-boggling. Incidents of mindless mishandling of public money often come under the glare of the spotlight and are becoming more commonplace in our country as nobody is actually ever held accountable for wasting public money. 

Such an appalling waste reflects a glaring lack of accountability among civil servants and state organs.  

There are many reasons behind this. 

As there is no proper accountability system in place for bureaucrats, they don't really care about being cautious while mapping out and executing different projects. Consequently, corruption, a vital reason for wastage of public money, hamstrings the projects taken for the welfare of the citizens. 

The Civil Service Act 2018 has emboldened civil servants further, as Section 41(1) of this law makes it mandatory to take prior permission or approval from the government or the employing authority before arresting any government official, making way for them, in a way, for mala fide abuse of their power.  

Moreover, the government cannot put much pressure on them for accountability as they maintain a tutelary relationship with bureaucrats and different state bodies, especially law enforcement agencies, which are often systematically politicized and misused to stay in power.     

No one really cares about this blatant and reckless waste of public money – neither the government nor other constitutional bodies like the anti-corruption commission, who are supposed to rein in such unscrupulous practices. 

The Civil Service Act 2018 has also put the ACC on a short leash, curtailing the authority of the Commission to bring irresponsible and corrupted civil servants to book while giving carte blanche to the civil servants.  

This is some form of political and bureaucratic oppression, because when people belonging to different rungs of the social ladder are struggling to turn the corner and put food on the table, owing to the gloomy economic prognosis, our (taxpayers') money is being squandered on a regular basis and those responsible don't even have to answer for this. 

Just think about it – when cross-sections of people are struggling and tightening their belts to save money for a rainy day, government officials are wasting public money by coming up with quixotic projects, which will bring no good for the masses. 

And this is happening despite repeated urges by the premier to be more considerate while spending public money and practice austerity. Our prime minister has asked everyone time and again, specifically the planning commission, to be more careful while taking up any development projects to avoid unnecessary expenditures. 

Despite such calls from the highest executive of the country, the wastage of public money has no end in sight. 

There needs to be some kind of system in place that will hold bureaucrats and other stakeholders accountable for wasting public money. Parliamentary standing committees of different ministries need to be more proactive and stricter in their approach to ensure judicious use of public money, redress the balance and obviate disaster in projects involving public money. 

The standing committees have a constitutional obligation to do so (with reference to Section 76 (12) (C) of Part V, The Legislature of the Constitution of Bangladesh). 

If civil servants become a little more careful while using public money, it will also help the country resuscitate the ailing economy. They need to jolt themselves out of the ostrich syndrome and act in a pro-people manner.  

Md Morshedul Alam Mohabat is a columnist who likes to delve deeper into the human psyche and social incongruities with a view to exploring the factors that influence these.