A parliamentary body on Wednesday asked the government to cancel the project for issuing machine-readable passports (MRPs) and take steps for introduction of electronic passports to save crore of public money. Apart from passport issue, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Planning Ministry also made a set of recommendations including relocation of Kamlapur Railway station to Tongi to ease terrific traffic congestion in the capital city.

In defence of scraping machine-readable passport project, the parliamentary body argued that usage of machine-readable passports would be ended in 2014 and after that electronic passports would have to be issued. Therefore, it is not desirable for spending of several hundred crore of public money in three years for the two tasks---issuing machine readable and electronic passport, the committee argued. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in last March approved Tk 3.50 billion for MRP and visa project of the home ministry. Under the project, the Department of Immigration and Passport under the home ministry has already begun the process to implement the project to hand over some 18.4 million MRP to the people by the year 2014.

Bangladesh will have to introduce MRP to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements by April 2010. If the country fails to become a member of ICAO, Bangladesh citizens' access to international manpower markets as well as obtaining all types of visas would be difficult. The parliamentary body said the government would have to spend another big amount of money to issue electronic passports to people when the usage of MRPs will be ended in 2014. Developed world has already introduced electronic passports, it said. “The foreign ministry and the planning ministry will write to the home ministry soon in this regard,” it said.

-Daily Star