Protesting officials and employees of the National Board of Revenue on Saturday began a ‘complete shutdown’ programme, demanding the removal of NBR chairman Abdur Rahman Khan.
Due to the shutdown, activities at all customs houses, including those in the Chattogram port and the Dhaka airport, and the collection services of value-added tax and income tax across the country came almost to a halt.
The protesting officials and employees under the banner of NBR Reform Unity Council also held the ‘March to NBR’ programme on Saturday, with officials from tax offices across the country participating.
Before Saturday, the protesting officials had been observing a five-hour pen-down programme since June 23 under their fresh protest programme following a series of protests against the government move to split the NBR into two divisions since April 29.
However, the international passenger services were out of the purview of the shutdown and the earlier protest programmes.
‘It is clear that meaningful revenue reforms cannot be implemented under the current NBR chairman as he would not allow these reforms to take effect accordingly,’ said Hasan Mohammad Rikabdar, president of the unity council, at a press conference at the NBR office at Agargaon in the capital Dhaka on Saturday.
He also alleged that the NBR chairman acted as a ‘proxy’ for a particular group aligned with vested interests to implement the group’s agenda.
On Friday, the National Board of Revenue instructed its all officials and employees to attend their respective offices, saying the absence from duty without permission, leaving the office and reporting late to the office are considered as breaches of discipline and punishable offenses.
On the same day, the finance ministry issued a press release, saying the government would sit in a meeting on July 1 with representatives of the protesting officials, the government-formed advisory committee on reforms, and the NBR members to review the ordinance that split the revenue board into the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division.
The protesting officials on Saturday announced that they would continue the shutdown at all tax, customs, and VAT offices and would also hold ‘March to NBR’ today.
The international passenger services would remain out of the purview of the shutdown, they said.
On Saturday, the protest programme began in the morning with several hundred officials at the NBR headquarters in the capital.
There was a significant deployment of law enforcement personnel, including the Army, Police, Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh, both inside and outside the NBR headquarters.
The protesters claimed that entry to and exit from the building were entirely restricted.
On June 21, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police slapped a ban on all kinds of gatherings, including meeting, rally, procession and demonstration, in and around the offices of NBR and surroundings area, though the NBR officials continued staging protests defying the ban.
The import and export activities at the customs house in the Chattogram port slowed down significantly due to the ‘complete shutdown’, ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· staff correspondent in Chattogram reported.
Although the loading and unloading of goods from vessels continued as usual, customs-related procedures, such as product clearance and delivery from the port, had come to a standstill since Saturday morning.
As a result, no customs assessment, submission of bills of entry, or other key procedures were conducted, leaving imported goods stranded at the port premises.
According to port sources, operations at private inland container depots also came to a halt on Saturday.
A senior customs official said that they were observing the shutdown in solidarity with the central decision.
The customs office at the port usually handles about 7,000 documents daily, approximately 2,000 import-related bills of entry and 5,000 export-related bills.
On Saturday, the unity council said that they were ready to engage in dialogue with the finance adviser based on the ministry’s May 25 press release stating that the ministry would amend the ordinance to strengthen the revenue board and separate revenue policy formulation activities by July 31.
However, they said, despite repeated calls, no concrete steps have yet been taken by the office of the finance adviser.
The interim government on May 12 promulgated the ‘Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance 2025’ by dissolving the revenue board and splitting it into two divisions under the finance ministry to modernise the tax administration and boost revenue collection.
Since the issuance of the ordinance, the NBR officials held a series of sit-in, pen-down strike and non-cooperation to the NBR chairman in May and June.
After a meeting over the issue on June 26, finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed had asked the protesting officials and employees of the National Board of Revenue to suspend their programme immediately.
The meeting was participated by finance secretary Khairuzzaman Mozumder, NBR chairman Abdur Rahman Khan and 167 members of the NBR. However, representatives of the protesting employees did not participate in the meeting.