JS Budget Session for Fiscal Year 2021-22 Prorogued

The thirteenth (budget) session of the 11th parliament was prorogued today after only 12 sittings with the thin presence of parliament members (MPs) amid the ongoing countrywide lockdown to tackle the widespread COVID-19 transmission. Earlier, the session started on June 2.

On June 3, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presented a budget of Tk six lakh three thousand 681 crore. Which was passed on June 30.

After two days of discussion, the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year 2020-21 was passed. The budget for the 2021-22 financial year was discussed for four consecutive days with a break of a week. After that, the budget was discussed for two days with a break of 10 more days.

In all, 85 MPs discussed the budget this time. The budget including the supplementary budget was discussed for 15 hours and 32 minutes in six days.

Earlier, last year was the shortest budget session in the history of Bangladesh. In that nine-day budget session, 18 MPs discussed for 5 hours and 18 minutes.

Throughout the session, MPs held general discussions on the budget. Several members of the opposition as well as the ruling party criticized health care and the government's dependence on bureaucracy.

Like other sessions held in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, this time the parliament followed the rules of hygiene. In this case, only the MPs with Covid-19 negative certificate have joined the session. Parliament sits in the presence of 100-120 MPs every day.

Unlike other sessions of the pandemic, the press did not have access to the parliament building.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury concluded the session by reading out the President's order on Saturday.