Digital signature for top bureaucrats planned

Bangladesh secretariat has been brought under the WiFi connection, which will allow ministries to get high-speed internet facilities.
"Not only secretariat officials, but also the visitors and guests will be able to use uninterrupted internet connection," said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology.
He was speaking at a function Sunday while inaugurating the services at the secretariat in the city.
He said the ICT ministry is implementing the project with financial support from the Chinese government under the project 'National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government Phase-II'.
The state minister said the project will speed up administrative functions of the government.
He said the government has also planned to connect all Upazila level administrative units with the fiber optical internet network within next six months.
"We are committed to bringing all Upazila under the Fiber Optical Cable network by June 30, 2015," Mr Palak told the function.
He said that the government also has planned to provide digital signature for 1,050 top government officials; thereby allowing them to do official work, even if they are out of station.
"Once the digital signature is given, the respective officials will be able to sign their official files digitally from anywhere," Mr Palak said, adding that the government will also provide 24,907 tablet PCs for the government officials soon.
Cabinet Division acting secretary Md Nazrul Islam and ICT division Secretary Shyam Sundar Sikdar, among others, spoke at the function while Executive Director of the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) SM Ashraful Islam chaired the event.
Cabinet Secretary Mr Islam expressed apprehension over the sustainability of the project. "Only establishing network isn't enough, it requires skilled manpower and adequate budgeting," he said, demanding immediate recruitment of the required staffs to run the project smoothly.
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