The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of ‘Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Bill, 2019’ to offload 49 per cent share of the corporation in the capital market.
The approval came at the Cabinet meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“It has been defined in the bill that the government will own 51 per cent shares while 49 per cent will be offloaded for the public,” said Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam while briefing reporters after the meeting, reports UNB.
The bill was placed to update an ordinance promulgated in 1961 keeping a provision to offload the shares of BRTC in the capital market, he said.
In the bill, a new provision has been incorporated among the functions of the BRTC that it will render transport services during emergency situation like hartal (strike), blockade, transport strike, emergency condition, national disaster, Biswa Ijtema, freedom fighters’ rally and in the case of emergency need of the state, he said.
Shafiul said the authorised capital of the corporation under the existing law is only Tk 60.0 million, but in the proposed law, it has been increased to Tk 10.00 billion.
Noting that the paid-up capital of the corporation is Tk 30.0 million in the existing law, he said its amount has not been fixed in the proposed law as the BRTC annual general meeting or special general meeting will fix the amount of the paid-up capital but it can’t exceed the amount of the authorised capital.
As per the bill, he said, there will be a 24-member board of directors instead of the existing 11-member one.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal for ratification of the "Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons" which will be adopted during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Cabinet endorsed a proposal so that Bangladesh could join ‘The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime’ to stop human trafficking and ensuring punishment to this end.
Besides, the Cabinet approved the draft of an agreement on Labour Cooperation between the governments of Seychelles and Bangladesh.