Extreme sloth in BPC
Monday, 27 October 2008
LETHARGY and indecision are the hallmarks of administrative culture in the country. The foremost obstacle to the development of its society and economy is the combination of the three evils-corruption, laxity and indecision. But in some cases laxity surpasses all these vices as it happened in the case of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). This sole fuel oil importing state-owned organisation, which is a subsidiary of the Energy Division, did, to all intents and purposes, even flout the Chief Adviser (CA)'s instruction to come up with recommendations to reduce the system losses in it within a period of three months. But far from acting on the order, which was issued in May 2007, within the stipulated time, the state-owned BPC chose to sweep the CA's order under the carpet and no decision has been taken on the matter until now. In other words, even though 16 months have meanwhile passed after the order was issued by the chief executive of the government, nothing has moved in BPC, especially regarding Chief Adviser's order of May 2007. How to explain this strange behaviour on the part of the BPC authorities? Is it an instance of sloth or of utter callousness, or combination of both?
As expected, the CA took exception to this, what he said, 'lackadaisical' attitude of the BPC and the Energy Division and has demanded enquiry into the matter in order to find out the causes of the delay in taking timely action and identify the persons responsible for this gross negligence. On any count, this is the height of sloth and inactivity, which is tantamount to defiance of the order from a person, who is in charge of the government. On the face of it, the incident looks like an instance of arrogance on the part of the BPC people, or the Energy Division for that matter. One may wonder at what appears to be the 'chutzpah' of this particular government organisation concerned. But a deeper look will open simply the Pandora's box of the country's administrative culture. Now, as the CA's attention has been drawn to this particular organisation, he has come face to face with this shocking reality of work culture in the government. But he will see the same picture about everywhere in the government offices.
If this is the fate of any order from the highest level of the government, one can easily guess what happens when the mere mortals approach these government organisations for any service. In fact, without mentioning any particular department, one may well say that this chronic syndrome of laxity and inaction is all-pervading. Having said that there is no reason to make light of the particular instance of neglect of duty by the BPC people. It may be noted here that the BPC is the most heavily subsidized government body. The government every year pays hundreds of billions of takas to the BPC to import fuel oil, which is then sold at a price that is far lower than what it costs to import the fuel so that the overall cost of production and services in the country may not go beyond the reach of the common people. In that sense, the BPC has a strategic importance in the economy. So, any laxity or inaction regarding discharge of day-to-day responsibilities in this organisation efficiently means further loss to the public exchequer that may turn out to be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. So, any system loss due to evaporation of the oil or its outright pilferage at the depots is the last thing that the government should tolerate. So, there is nothing surprising in the way the head of the government has taken up with the extreme sluggishness that the BPC authorities have demonstrated in implementing the particular order that the CA issued to address the problem of system loss in the organisation concerned. Those responsible for this gross negligence towards duty deserve to pay the price for their casualness about instruction from the highest authorities.
As expected, the CA took exception to this, what he said, 'lackadaisical' attitude of the BPC and the Energy Division and has demanded enquiry into the matter in order to find out the causes of the delay in taking timely action and identify the persons responsible for this gross negligence. On any count, this is the height of sloth and inactivity, which is tantamount to defiance of the order from a person, who is in charge of the government. On the face of it, the incident looks like an instance of arrogance on the part of the BPC people, or the Energy Division for that matter. One may wonder at what appears to be the 'chutzpah' of this particular government organisation concerned. But a deeper look will open simply the Pandora's box of the country's administrative culture. Now, as the CA's attention has been drawn to this particular organisation, he has come face to face with this shocking reality of work culture in the government. But he will see the same picture about everywhere in the government offices.
If this is the fate of any order from the highest level of the government, one can easily guess what happens when the mere mortals approach these government organisations for any service. In fact, without mentioning any particular department, one may well say that this chronic syndrome of laxity and inaction is all-pervading. Having said that there is no reason to make light of the particular instance of neglect of duty by the BPC people. It may be noted here that the BPC is the most heavily subsidized government body. The government every year pays hundreds of billions of takas to the BPC to import fuel oil, which is then sold at a price that is far lower than what it costs to import the fuel so that the overall cost of production and services in the country may not go beyond the reach of the common people. In that sense, the BPC has a strategic importance in the economy. So, any laxity or inaction regarding discharge of day-to-day responsibilities in this organisation efficiently means further loss to the public exchequer that may turn out to be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. So, any system loss due to evaporation of the oil or its outright pilferage at the depots is the last thing that the government should tolerate. So, there is nothing surprising in the way the head of the government has taken up with the extreme sluggishness that the BPC authorities have demonstrated in implementing the particular order that the CA issued to address the problem of system loss in the organisation concerned. Those responsible for this gross negligence towards duty deserve to pay the price for their casualness about instruction from the highest authorities.