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PEOPLE are surprisingly watching a war between two government agencies -- the ministry of civil aviation and that of energy. The possible casualty is Bangladesh Biman, which is now on the brink of collapse.
Biman buys jet fuel from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) on credit, which is a normal practice between government agencies. Usually the accounts are maintained on book instead of immediate cash payment and the accounts are settled through mutual transactions. But Biman failed miserably to settle the accounts. The cumulating credit mounted to a staggering amount of Tk. 5.08 billion. Now BPC says until the full payment is made, it would stop supply of fuel to Biman on credit.
The obvious question that comes to our mind is why the credit is allowed to grow to a point where normal transaction could reach the brink of collapse. Last week BPC served an ultimatum to Biman to clear its arrears within 72 hours failing which supply of jet fuel would be stopped. Finally it has been decided that the matter must be solved after Eid.
BPC says it had been pressing Biman for quite sometime to settle the bill. On the other hand, Biman says it paid a huge amount and it has to be given time to settle the rest of the amount. Whatever the case may be, the conflict within the government bodies should not be so unpleasant as it has come to at the moment. This is not a dispute of transaction between an unsparing creditor and a cunning debtor. It is one ministry taking action against another.
We all know that Biman is not only a losing organisation, but also one of the most corrupt entities of the government. So it is really uncertain when it can pay BPC's money. The immediate action should be closure of all losing routes of the airlines and rescheduling the others.
Zareen Rafa
Niketon, Gulshan-1, Dhaka.
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