The 18th session of the 11th Parliament, which is the budget session, will begin on Sunday to approve the budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The session will start at 5pm. Before it the Business Advisory Committee will sit after lapse of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will fix the schedule of the session and other matters.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the budget on June 9.
President Abdul Hamid summoned the 18th JS session exercising power bestowed upon him by Article 72(1) of the Constitution. The 17th session of 11th parliament was prorogued on April 6 after eight sittings.
According to the Parliament Secretariat, there will be no roaster system for attending the session by the lawmakers, anyone with negative certificate of COVID-19 test can join the session.
This time the COVID-19 test will be done after 4-5 working days which was1-2 working days in earlier sessions.
This time, the officials of the parliament secretariat will be allowed to enter Parliament and journalists will also be allowed to go to the press gallery but they will have to use mask.
The budget session was comparatively shorter in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this time it will continue till end of June, according to the information from the parliament secretariat.
The proposed budget will be passed by Parliament on June 30.
So far, four bills have been deposited at the parliament secretariat. These are Bangladesh Gas, Oil and Mineral Resources Corporation Bill, National Freedom Fighters Council Bill, Bangladesh Nuclear Power Commission (Amendment) Bill and Bangladesh Supreme Court Judges (Vacation, Pension and Privilege) Bill.
On May 17, the National Economic Council (NEC) approved the annual development programme for FY23 with an outlay of Tk 2,46,066.09 crore, up by 9.23 per cent from the previous year.
The highest allocation has gone to the transport and communication sector apart of prioritising optimum utilization of public fund by checking misuse, Planning Minister MA Mannan told reporters.
Some 1,435 projects are in the new ADP including some 1,244 investment projects, some 106 technical assistance projects and some 85 projects to be financed from the own fund of the autonomous bodies and corporations.
NEC Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Source: United News of Bangladesh