Approval for direct purchase of 163 vehicles for RAB without tender to ‘increase capacity’

❐ Special Correspondent

The government has decided to purchase 163 vehicles for the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The purchase of this vehicle was approved yesterday at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement held at the Secretariat under the chairmanship of Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.

According to the meeting sources, out of the 163 vehicles, there are three jeeps, 100 patrol pickups and 60 AC microbuses. These vehicles will be purchased from the state-owned company Pragati Industries Limited through direct purchase without tender. The total cost of this will be 122 crore 27 lakh 45 thousand taka.

During the anti-discrimination student movement (BAICHA), law enforcement agencies including the police and RAB were systematically attacked. Police stations were burned and a huge amount of weapons and ammunition were looted, and security equipment including vehicles and jeeps of the forces were set on fire. This reduced the capacity of the forces. Regular patrols and operational activities were hampered. This had an impact on the overall law and order situation.

To compensate for these losses, in March last year, Dr. Yunus’ interim government issued a work order to purchase 364 new pickup trucks and 140 prisoner vans for the police. A budget was also released for this. In continuation of this, a plan to purchase vehicles for RAB has been undertaken this time.

The Cabinet Committee approved the proposal to purchase these vehicles in the 2025-26 fiscal year under the project titled ‘Enhancing the Operational Capability of RAB Forces (1st Amendment)’ under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The proposal in this regard received in-principle approval at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting on January 27.

It is learned that although the purchase of all types of vehicles was banned according to a circular issued by the Finance Department on April 5, the proposal was presented for approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs with special consideration, considering the need to control the overall law and order situation in the country and increase the operational capacity of RAB.

Sources said that this project to increase the capacity of RAB was approved by the ECNEC on November 7, 2018. The project period is scheduled from December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2026. The work of procuring vehicles under it was going on continuously. But many RAB vehicles were destroyed in the July-August conflict of 2024.

It is learned that the current Revised Annual Development Program (RADP) has allocated Tk 160 crore for the project.

Multiple sources have confirmed that this decision is being taken to compensate for the extensive damage to the infrastructure of law enforcement agencies during the Baischa movement.