Pandemic-time tours go against govt’s own rules

Since March last year, the government has saved Tk 2,500 crore in funds that would otherwise have been spent on foreign trips taken by government officials. While certain overseas meetings and training can be very useful, questions had been raised, prior to the pandemic, on the logic behind spending taxpayers' money for frequent tours—especially since many such trips end up yielding no noteworthy results. In some cases, officials had gone on foreign tours with projects they did not even have any involvement with, and the prime minister herself had spoken out against such practices.

In this context, we are confused as to why officials of Bangladesh Railway and the railways ministry have now planned four different trips to Europe, the US and India over the next three months. This is despite the fact that the government withheld 50 percent of this fiscal year's allocation for foreign trips, and asked officials to cancel routine tours. According to a finance ministry circular from July 1, the remaining funds can only be spent during emergencies and unavoidable circumstances.

So far, the reasons given for the scheduled trips are studies, training and visiting factories. None of these can hardly be considered an emergency, or an unavoidable circumstance. From Tuesday, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan will lead an eight-member delegation on a 13-day trip to four European countries. According to the railways minister, its purpose is to observe developed railway systems and hold talks with different stakeholders. We wonder why there is this sudden need to travel to hold such talks when, during the pandemic, all the biggest government agencies and businesses across the world shifted to videoconferencing for most discussions.

It has also not been made clear how much money will be spent on the planned tours. Why the mystery surrounding these visits? Given that Europe is the only place in the world where coronavirus cases are continuing to rise, and that many states in the US are also in precarious situations, the people of this country have every right to be concerned about our officials travelling there. We would also like to know: Will the officials going to these countries quarantine on their return?

Now that the Covid-19 situation has finally come under control in Bangladesh, it is careless of railway officials to plan trips to high-risk countries—that, too, at the public's expense, and for reasons that the government's own directives would not consider essential. It is high time that the authorities dealt with the issue of different ministries and departments failing to follow the rules that are set by their own administration. In Digital Bangladesh, there is really no reason to waste precious resources and contribute to the climate emergency by flying across the world, if the purpose of such tours could be served online just as easily instead.