Block allocation released

This exercise of allocating huge sums on a single day may be considered a precursor of what is coming in the days ahead. It is no wonder that people are always skeptical about such allocations in the budget and the ensuing spending spree towards the fag end of a gov-ernment. More often than not, major slices of the funds are kept aside for fulfilling narrow partisan interests. Not only is this antithetical to financial and budgetary discipline, it is also tantamount to flouting constitutional principles. The allocations in question are large amounts for a country like Bangladesh, where, ironi-cally, projects for meeting basic human needs cannot be implemented because of lack of funds. But, when it comes to making money available before an election, there are always the astronomical amounts that the rul-ing party stalwarts of the day can easily fall back on.

We can only hope that relevant regulatory bodies of the government would supervise the expenditures and ensure accountability of the people implementing the projects.

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