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The future of Biman
10/24/2005
THE future of the Bangladesh Biman is again at stake. This time, it was because of a conflict between the national flag carrier and the state-owned Padma Oil company over the payment of dues. Media report has disclosed that the dues claimed by the Padma Oil did not match the amount that Biman assessed. The Padma Oil's claim was Tk 5.8 billion but the Biman said it was about 3.37 billion taka.
Whatever the amount is due is not the matter for us. There must be some reasons or politics over taking action particularly against Biman whereas the BPC owes dues from other state-owned companies. But the incident mattered as it affected the passengers and further damaged the image of the national airline. A good number of passengers had to remain stranded and they suffered due to cancellation of two domestic flights. The Biman authority had to cancel the flights because the BPC stopped jet fuel supply to create pressure on them to pay back the money.
But this incident has brought one thing into limelight: unfriendly attitudes of one state-owned organisation towards another. This kind of culture of having arrears and non-cooperation are common in all state-owned organisations and it plays the major role in making the public sector inefficient. We have past and present experiences in maintaining this kind of culture. We are also like to experience more in the coming years unless some miracle changes occur. This miracle will automatically come if the practice of good governance is practiced in the public sector.
K Zaman
DOHS,
Dhaka
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