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Biman: Sky is just the beginning

15 July 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Saif, Dhaka
15 July 2004, 18:00 PM
For Biman, the national flag carrier of Bangladesh, sky is just the beginning when it comes to squandering public money and mistreating the passengers. The F-28 affair has become an old story and we are sweeping everything under the carpet. The hospitable Biman has set a new record by entertaining its valued passengers with very bad food. Do the concerned officials not understand what kind of 'good will' it may bring for the carrier of national flag? Worse still, instead of apologising they were more eager to show it as an isolated incident just like the regular engine failure of the old F-28. Meanwhile, our minister has urged the not-knowledgeable circle not to make rash comments on F-28, and the director of engineering of Biman stopped short of terming them blessed with everlasting youth.

I think it is high time we overhauled the whole management and administrative system and got rid of the inefficient and corrupt people.

***

"Your home is the sky" is the theme of Biman, the national flag carrier. However, the actual situation is completely different. Recently, they added two faulty F-28 aircraft to their fleet. The procurement department was aware of the faults of these aircraft. Nonetheless, they bought these amid controversy. So, why did they buy these in the first place? People have every right to know the answer.

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Rafi, Dhaka

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I am amazed at Biman's explanation for the purchase and failure of its recently procured F-28 planes. Just because the budget was tight, there was no reason to throw away the money to buy these vintage aircraft. What kind of purchasing reviews did the proposal go through? Was a full technical analysis done?

We would like to know what kind of guarantee or warranty was provided by the seller or were these sold on 'as is' basis without any warranty like scrap material?

While Biman is famous for its mismanagement of flights and schedules, this episode also attests to its technical and financial incompetence and irresponsibility.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation should open a probe to find out what led to this poor decision.

M Faruque, USA