Tarana bemoans delay in releasing Teletalk fund

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim on Sunday alleged the Finance Ministry has not yet released  the Tk 610 crore allocated to expand the network of state-run mobile phone operator Teletalk although the project got approval form Ecnec twice.

The junior minister came up with the allegation while addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Aparajita’ a new Teletalk package designed for women. 

“I can’t improve the network facilities of Teletalk without money. I don’t know magic. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved the project involving Tk 610 crore twice to expand the Teletalk network. However, the Finance Ministry is yet to release the money,” Tarana said. 

Expressing her hope that the ministry will release the money within a very short time, Tarana said, “Once we get the money, we’ll expand the Teletalk network up to the upazila level.”

Later, she inaugurated new Teletalk package ‘Aparajita’ designed for women with some special facilities, aiming to ensure women empowerment and reduce gender disparity. 

Teletalk will distribute free some 20 lakh Aparajita SIM cards throughout the country while each woman will be able to collect maximum two SIMs with her NID from any Teletalk retail point or customer care centre. 

An Aparajita user will enjoy three months’ validity by recharging Tk 10, said Tarana adding that the users can purchase one gigabyte internet data at Tk eight with a validity of one week and two gigabyte data at Tk 14 with the same validity. 

All Aparajita subscribers will enjoy a special call rate of Tk 0.30 on-net and Tk .60 off-net by recharging Tk 29.

Source: unb