Officials and employees of various tiers of the dissolved National Board of Revenue observed a five-hour pen-down strike for the second consecutive day on Thursday, protesting at the government’s recent ordinance to dissolve and restructure the NBR.
On the second day of the pen-down strike, several dramatic incidents occurred at the NBR premises.
At around noon, 20 to 30 individuals arrived at the NBR premises under the banner of Anti-Fascist Citizens, who demanded the dismissal and arrest of the pro-fascist bureaucrats and justice against them.
They held a brief gathering under police supervision.
After a short time, authorities of the former NBR invited journalists to a press conference with the NBR chair via WhatsApp messages, but later, the messages of invitation were deleted.
While the NBR chair did not appear for a press conference the public relations officer introduced several outsiders and asked the media representatives present to listen to their statements.
A young man named Ismail Samrat claimed to be a political party representative and spoke on behalf of the group. They grew agitated when asked why they were talking about NBR matters and a heated debate between the journalists and the outsiders ensued.
However, after repeated questions by journalists, he revealed that they had come at the call of NBR member Belal Chowdhury.
Then, reporters asked Belal Chowdhury for a comment. Declining to speak on camera, Belal claimed that the youths were from the area of his rural home and they came to visit him.
In the afternoon, additional commissioner Sefat E Mariyam, tax commissioner Mostafizur Rahman, and deputy commissioner of customs Ninup Chakma briefed the journalists.
They demanded that the ordinance on setting up separate divisions for policymaking and revenue collection management be revoked, that the advisory committee report on the NBR reform be made publicly available, and that the revenue system be reformed in an integrated, participatory, and sustainable manner by taking into account the views of all stakeholders.
They also demanded a corruption-free, harassment-free, service-oriented, and people-friendly revenue system, along with a full automation, adequate investment in human resource management for skill development, and strengthening the structural and technical capacity of the NBR’s specialised wings.
Earlier, at Monday midnight, the interim government promulgated an ordinance dissolving the revenue board and splitting it into two divisions under the finance ministry in a move to modernise tax administration and boost revenue collections.
The ordinance was approved by President Mohammed Sahabuddin and signed by law secretary Hafiz Ahmed Chowdhury.
The divisions to be created are ‘Revenue Policy Division’ and ‘Revenue Management Division’, in keeping with the International Monetary Fund’s key condition of separating tax policy from tax administration.
NBR officials have been opposing the decision since the council of advisers approved the draft ordinance aimed at splitting the board in April.
NBR officials, under the banner ‘NBR Sangskar Oikya Parishad’, announced a three-day pen-down strike from May 14 to 17, with May 16 falling on a weekend Friday.
However, the protesters said that they would continue their duties related to air passengers, exports, and the coming budget during the strike.
All other tasks are to remain suspended.
On Tuesday, the strike continued from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, and it will continue at the same time on May 17.
Criticising the decision on splitting the NBR as drastic, they alleged that the government did not consult the stakeholders on the matter, and urged taking the NBR Reform Commission’s recommendations into consideration.
