A rethink now comes on undertaking development projects as the Planning Commission under the changed custodian says nay to any project reliant on manpower outsourcing, officials said.
The commission has decided in principle not to give its nod from now on to projects highly dependent on outsourced recruits, out of fear of aftereffects.
Possible legal complications and agitations from temporary employees for regularizing their jobs spook the planners' mind and prompt such cautious stance.
Already, the planning commission has sent back a project proposed by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, with an estimated cost of Tk750 million, which was supposed to have 253 outsourced positions.
A budget of Tk440 million, around 58.7 per cent of the overall project cost, was earmarked as spending for salaries and other expenses for the manpower to be recruited through outsourcing.
"Outsourcing most of the manpower for any project will not be permitted nor can a significant portion of a project's total budget be allocated solely for outsourced personnel," a senior official of the Planning Commission told The Financial Express.
He makes it clear that no projects will be submitted to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval in the future unless they adhere to these guidelines.
However, outsourcing will be allowed for positions requiring specialized skills that cannot be filled by permanent government employees.
The Agriculture, Water Resources, and Rural Institutions Division of the Planning Commission hosted a Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting on October 21 for a review of the third phase of the 'Fisheries Technology Service Extension Project at Union Level'.
The meeting returned the proposal with recommendation for revisions to reduce the budget below Tk500 million by eliminating all outsourced positions, said officials of the planning commission and the department of fisheries.
Outsourced staff members in various development projects are increasingly transitioning to the revenue sector, often resulting in lawsuits that complicate administrative processes, including regular recruitment within departments, revealed the minutes of the meeting issued on October 29.
The stocktaking PEC meeting, chaired by then Planning Commission Member Md Jahangir Alam, noted that an inter-ministerial committee on the determination of manpower for development projects allows outsourcing under projects only for the implementation stage, not for post-implementation stage.
Recently, it has been observed that all such recruits coming through outsourcing process in various development projects are claiming at various stages to be included in the revenue sector later, which later leads to litigation in lawcourt.
"As a result, complications arise in administrative activities, including regular recruitment of manpower in the departments," he explains.
Jahangir Alam was placed on forced retirement by the government last week and he was unavailable to make any comment further in this regard.
Senior Secretary Dr Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan has been posted to the position but declined to comment without further details.
However, some of the senior officials of the commission stated that no more projects dependent on outsourced staffing would be approved.
Md Tofazzel Hossain, Additional Secretary at the Planning Wing of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, says all outsourced positions will be removed from the restructured project. From now on, recruitment of manpower under the project will be avoided as much as possible.
"The ministry and the department are bound to follow the decision made by the planning commission," he told the FE writer.
The officials also said that the project would be implemented with regular officials and it would be easier if the vacant positions in the fisheries department be filled with new recruits.
However, excluding the outsourcing positions from the project being implemented in several phases will prevent the opportunity of utilizing the skilled manpower, says Md. Zillur Rahman, Director-General (current charge) at the Department of Fisheries.
"We have thousands of workers who gathered skills through working in the previous phases of the project for last 15 years since 2009. Implementation of the proposed project with the existing manpower of the department will be difficult in the areas where some another existing projects are being implemented."
Officials have said the Department of Fisheries is shorthanded in manpower, like over a dozen District Fisheries Officers and a significant number of Upazila Fisheries Officers, due to a huge deficiency of manpower.
The review-meeting minutes indicate that the project fully funded by the government and to be implemented by June 2028 is meant to boost fish production and enhance the socioeconomic conditions of the target population through the expansion of aquaculture and fisheries technology.
Key activities include establishing 2,500 exhibitions across 250 upazilas-ten in each upazila-focused on pond fish farming for household use, recruiting field assistants, providing training to fish farmers, and encouraging participation in the pisciculture.
The Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Md Tofazzel Hossain, said in the meeting that all of the proposed outsourcing manpower will be excluded from the restructured project proposal. "From now on, recruitment of manpower under the project will be avoided as much as possible."
Officials of the planning ministry said at the meeting that the two phases of the project had already been implemented in 13 years since July 2009 till June 2022.
Whether the demonstrations held under the first and second phases of the project have been sustained and what is their current status has not been mentioned in the Development Project Proposal (DPP).
In this context, the representative of IMED said that the fish-farming technologies provided in the field in the previous phases of the project were not popular with the fish farmers.
In addition, the Department of Fisheries is already implementing various projects in different areas. In this situation, the project in question can be taken on a small scale in all the areas of the country that are already advanced in fish production, excluding those areas that are still lagging behind in fish production.
Md. Sayduzzaman, Chief (Additional Secretary) of the Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division of the Planning Commission, says the Department of Fisheries implemented two consecutive phases of the project with a huge number of outsourced workers.
The commission suggests dropping such outsourcing positions from the third phase of the projects.
"Outsourcing workers may be hired for the positions of specialized skills which would not be managed from the permanent workforce of the government," he said, adding that maximum of the cost of any project would not be spent on outsourcing manpower.
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