The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Ministry will recommend the government to enhance budget for strengthening the defence system.

The second meeting of the committee took the decision yesterday after reviewing the activities, problems and possibilities of different organisations under the ministry including Army, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Directorate General of Defence Purchase (DGDP), Directorate General of Military Service (DGMS), Inter Service Selection Board (ISSB), Defence Service and Staff College (DS&SC), and National Defence College (NDC).

The recommendation will be sent to the defence ministry to increase the logistics support, manpower and its budget, said

standing committee chairman and BNP lawmaker Mahbubur Rahman.

"We should take steps to make our armed forces modern and efficient. To attain this goal, defence budget should be increased,'' said Mahbubur Rahman.

The defence sector with a budgetary allocation of Tk 3,995 crore in 2003-04 is however one of the highest recipients of national revenues.

In the meeting, top officials of different organisations placed several reports, explained the formation, function, problems and prospects of their bodies.

The army chief informed the committee that the armed forces have a total manpower of 1,20,918 against 1,35,317 approved posts. A total of 2,526 army personnel are now on peacekeeping missions,

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3,636 of them are in Kuwait. About 4,366 army officials are deputed in different organisations across the country, sources said.

There is no representation from any opposition parties in this committee. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, in charge of the defence ministry and a member of this standing committee, did not attend yesterday's meeting. She was also absent in the maiden meeting.

The meeting was also attended by Water Resources Minister Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Whip Rezaul Bari Deena, Samsul Alam Pramanik, Saeed Iskander and Defence Secretary K M Ehsanul Hoq and Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hasan M Chowdhury.