TIB questions U-turn on govt officials’ car maintenance allowance

TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman made the remarks in a statement citing recent media reports

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Sunday criticised the government’s reported decision to restore the monthly car maintenance allowance for officials who purchase vehicles through interest-free loans, questioning what it described as the influence of vested interests behind the move.

In a statement citing recent media reports, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the reported reinstatement of the Tk50,000 monthly allowance, after an earlier decision to reduce it to Tk25,000, represented a retreat from an important austerity measure.

He said the prime minister’s decision to halve the allowance and abolish the interest-free loan facility had been a “commendable precedent” aimed at ensuring the efficient use of limited public resources, reducing waste and addressing inequality.

However, he alleged that the government had failed to uphold that decision due to pressure from beneficiaries of the scheme.

“Under whose influence is the government being forced to retreat from this austerity policy despite goodwill at the highest level?” he asked, urging the authorities to identify those responsible and examine the motives behind the reported reversal.

Dr Iftekharuzzaman argued that the privilege, enjoyed by around 2,400 officials, created discrimination within the civil service by excluding officers of the same cadre and other services of equivalent rank.

He said such preferential treatment undermined morale, disrupted the balance within the public administration and encouraged unhealthy competition for posts carrying additional benefits.

The TIB chief also questioned whether officials benefiting from the facility had taken any lessons from the Prime Minister’s reported decision to use his personal vehicle and bear its fuel costs.

Referring to the government’s decision to increase public sector salaries to offset the rising cost of living, he noted that TIB’s earlier proposal to make asset disclosure mandatory for government officials had not been accepted.

He said the public would now expect greater integrity and improved service delivery in return for the higher salaries.

The reported reversal of the austerity measure, he added, was not an ordinary administrative decision in the context of the country’s economic challenges, but rather an “alarming capitulation” to pressure from a privileged section of the bureaucracy.