Technical glitch in iBAS++Disparity in PF amounts upsets govt officials

FT ONLINE 

A number of government officials have raised their concern over huge mismatch between actual amount and system-generated amount of their provident fund (PF), prepared using the Integrated Budget and Accounting System (iBAS++).

They also said they will have to claim provident fund benefit after retirement on the basis of available data in the system.

There might be error in data entry or technical glitch in the iBAS++ system, which might lead to serious problem in getting their retirement benefit, they added.

Preferring anonymity, a number of government officials said they are seriously concerned over the issue, and notified the relevant authorities about the erroneous data.

Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Bangladesh, said the iBAS system needs some time to be settled, as it is newly introduced for government officials' salary deduction.

The system has been re-booted to address the errors that have been minimised to a great extent in recent times, he also said.

"We are open to address any problem faced by government officials. They can come to us with their feedbacks on the iBAS system," he added.

An official, who faced the problem, said he has been promoted (to new rank) a few years back. But the system has not updated the data accordingly, and is showing lesser (than actual) amount in his provident fund balance.

Another official in the tax department said the iBAS system picked up data of provident fund contribution of the current year, showing Tk 3.0 million less than the actual amount in the fund.

"I am so much worried over uncertainty of getting retirement benefit, as the system erased benefits of my last 20 years' service period."

The iBAS system is not showing any data of the previous years, he added.

With the help of the iBAS++, the government officials are now preparing their own salary-sheets and submitting to the AG office for approval.

However, monthly salary statistics is well-articulated in the iBAS++ system for its smooth disbursement.

Civil servants started getting the iBAS-generated salary-sheets from December 2017. Some 2.1 million civil servants are now able to submit online bills of their salary payment and other allowances.

Online provident fund balance updating started recently after AG auditors collected hardcopies of handwritten balances, and inserted them into the software.

With this system, any kind of delay in civil servants' pension payment can be avoided.

After introduction of the iBAS++, time for bill submission by the civil servants reduced by almost 15 days. Earlier, submission of salary bills was manual, causing delay in payment.

Under this system, the civil servants can apply for CAG-approved pass, pension payment, house rent and other expenses.