The owners of Small and Medium Enterprises on Sunday said that they had to fight corruptions and irregularities from 13-14 departments to obtain permission to start new business.
They added that the entrepreneurs had to bribe officials into getting business licences, and corruption became the norm in everyday life.
The SME entrepreneurs expressed their frustration at a regional consultation held on Sunday in Rajshahi, which was organised by the Centre for Governance Studies, a think tank based in Bangladesh in association with the Centre for International Private Enterprises, a Washington-based organisation, said a press release.
Facing harassment by officials from income tax office, Fire Service and Civil Defence, Department of Environment, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, banks and financial institutions, Power Division and the like has become the usual practice, according to the small business owners.
Though Bangladesh does not top the Corruption Perception Index anymore, the real situation has yet to change, they added.
According to a recent US State Department report, corruption is the major setback to foreign investment in Bangladesh
The SME owners said that they were in a rough patch due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years and trade bodies and local chambers did not help them.
The speakers in the regional consultation meeting agreed that if they did not stand for them, the incident of corruption would not stop in future.
They were concerned that there was no organisation or platform to fight for them against corruption.
The speakers mentioned that the former glory of silk and jute was destroyed due to limitless irregularities and corruptions.
Citing the struggle of SME entrepreneurs to obtain any loans from the bank, they said that bank officials often harassed them as most of the new entrepreneurs were unaware about necessary documents.
They sought for an anti-corruption platform in future to fight against fraudulence and corruption.
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