Officials and employees of the National Board of Revenue staged a pen-down strike on Wednesday, protesting at the latest ordinance to split it into two separate divisions under the finance ministry.
Along with the NBR, the three-day strike began on the day across various tax zones and customs houses in Dhaka and other regions.
On the first day, NBR officials reported to their offices in the morning, but refrained from performing regular duties till 01:00pm.
Speaking to the media,聽 several officials said that they supported the idea of reform but rejected the manner in which the government approached it.
They also said that solution did not lie in restructuring the NBR by spitting it into two bureaucratically tangled departments.
Earlier at midnight past Monday, the interim government promulgated an ordinance dissolving the revenue board, 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 鈥楻evenue Policy Division鈥� and 鈥楻evenue Management Division鈥�, in keeping with a key condition set by the International Monetary Fund to separate tax policy from administration.
NBR officials have been opposing the decision since the council of advisers in April approved the draft ordinance aimed at splitting the board.聽
On Tuesday afternoon, around 200鈥�300 officials of NBR Sangskar Oikya Parishad (NBR reform unity council) protested at the NBR headquarters at Agargaon in the capital.
During the protest, they聽announced a three-day pen-down strike in May 14鈥�17 with May 16 falling on weekend Friday.
The protesters, however, 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.聽
On Wednesday, the strike continued from 10:00am to 1:00pm, while today and on May 17, the strike would be from 10:00am to 3:00pm.聽
Criticising the decision to split the entity as drastic, they alleged that the government did not consult the stakeholders on the matter, and urged for taking the NBR Reform Commission鈥檚 recommendations into account.