7/29/2019 Financial Express __ Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh2.pdf

1/1www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/print.php?ref=MjBfMDJfMjdfMTNfMV8xXzE2MTQ2Nw==

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Separate pay-scales for BB, 3 SCBs to be finalised by Mar

Nazmul Ahsan

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has instructed the Cabinet Division to finalise soon the proposals for separate pay-

structures for the Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the three state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) -- Sonali, Janata and

grani Bank Ltd.

he proposed pay-scales will be prepared in accordance with the guidelines that were earlier approved by Prime

Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina for the purpose.

he Division will complete the task by next one month, a senior o fficial said.

Cabinet Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan is the convener of an eight-member secretary committee formed

or the purpose o f making final recommendations for sepa rate pay structures for the BB and SCBs.

he Cabinet Division, in an office order, issued on Monday, said, the proposals for sepa rate pay scales would be ready

within the next 30 days.

"It is the instruction of the Finance Minister to finalise soon the proposals of separate pay scales," a senior official in

he Finance Division told the FE on Tuesday.

"We are going ahead on full steam to complete the task by next one month."

Mr Muhith, in his letter to the Cabinet Division, also forwarded a draft of pay s tructures for the central and SCBs' staffs.

He said the new salary and perks for the bankers concerned must be market-based and attractive.

he Finance Minister in his official note said the separate pay-scales would be different from those of the government

officials and these would be market-based and competitive. The existing salaries and other perks of the staff

concerned would not be affected when the separate scales would come into effect.

Officials in the Bank and Financial Institution Division under the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said they had also urged the

Cabinet Division to hasten the process of finalising separate pay scales as the issue has long been put on hold due to

bureaucratic hassles .

"We have submitted our proposals, along with the lette r of Mr Muhith to the Cabinet Division for necessary action," an

official of the MoF to ld the FE.

section of the MoF officials are alleged to have followed a dilatory approach to completing the process for finalising

separate pay scales.

Earlier, the Prime Minister approved the guidelines for the central bankers and the members o f the sta ff at SCBs.

Besides attractive and market-based package, the guidelines said no lunch or other entertainment allowances will be

considered. Maintenance for houses will be included in the head of house allowance. Conveyance and entertainment

allowances w ill be given to a ll concerned. Health allowance will include expenses for medicine and education a llowance

will be limited to only two children up to the age of 21 in the case w ith lower level staff.

Currently, nearly 90,000 employees are employed in all SCBs, while about 6,000 are with the BB, an MoF official said.

he MoF officials, who are opposed to separate scales, said the BB has to be excluded from the Government Service

(Reconstitution and Conditions) Act, 1975, before the introduction of the separate pay scales for its officers and

members o f the sta ff.

Cop yright 2012

International Publications Limited.

All rights reserved