Quorum crisis in the previous parliament wasted time worth nearly Tk 1.64 billion, according to a study by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
In its latest ‘Parliament Watch’ report released on Wednesday (Aug 28), it said that sessions had to be halted for a total of 194 hours and 30 minutes in the 10th National Parliament.
The study, which covers the 23 sessions between January 2014 and October 2018, found that 12 percent of the total time was wasted due to quorum crisis.
According to the rules of procedures of the parliament, at least 60 lawmakers must be present for beginning the proceedings of the House.
On an average, 28 minutes were wasted during every business day, according to the transparency watchdog.
The daily average time wasted due to quorum crisis, however, came down from 32 minutes in the 9th parliament and 37 minutes during the 8th parliament, it said.
TIB, which publishes its Parliament Watch report every year, maintains that the monetary value attributed to quorum crisis is not exact. The calculations only provide a rough idea of the cost of time wasted in parliament.
The latest study found that only 12 percent of the total time was spent to pass bills in the tenth parliament and a total of 193 bills were passed in the last parliament.
According to the TIB report, 71 percent of the total bill which was passed in the previous parliament took between one to 30 minutes.
 In the eighth parliament, nine percent time was spent to enact bills (2001-2005) while in the ninth parliament (2009-2013), it was eight percent.