Good governance can expedite development of Bangladesh

Development of a country never takes place overnight. It is a continuous process and is the outcome of a blend of development-friendly policies and smooth implementation of policies by corruption-free government administrative machinery. Development of a country can never occur without accelerating growth in all sectors of the economy. Development requires performing respective duties with dedication and commitment from not only the politicians but also from all sections of people of the country. Since government officials are the permanent inputs in the development process rather than members of political government, therefore they should have the pivotal role in ensuring  development of the country. Development of a country mostly depends on good governance in government offices, smooth implementation of government policies and proper utilisation of government resources (money, manpower etc) at field level.
Good governance is one of the key components of developing a country within the stipulated time set by the political government. Good governance is certainly a combination of sincerity, commitment and corruption-free belief among government officials. To achieve desired development committed by the political government to the nation, the aim of government administrative machinery should be establishment of good governance in public offices.
Smooth implementation of government policies totally depends on government officials' freedom of working without illegal interferences and following government circular strictly. They should cooperate with public representatives to smoothen implementation of government policies without applying illegal interferences. Regarding this all public representatives might supply copies of each and every department's latest circulars and rules & regulations. Public representatives rather monitor and supervise government officials' activities whether they are performing their duties applying honesty and following government circulars or not. In addition government officials should avoid dishonesty, nepotism and biasness in their respective professions.    
Proper use of government resources at field level entirely depends on government officials' frequent visits to their target people as well as monitor and give or collect feedback on ongoing activities/programs at field. Government officials desperately need to visit people concerned and programmes extensively in the interior parts of their jurisdiction to inspire all concerned for contributing actively to the development process of the country. Without providing government services at the people's doorsteps, evaluating outcomes of utilised government resources and monitoring ongoing programmes/activities of respective departments that have been taken for the welfare of the people, government policies never be implemented successfully. Government officials need to share departments' services and ongoing programmes/activities with clients concerned as well as need to collect feedback from clients for further development of services through frequent and extensive field visits. Extensive field visit with a view to evaluating performances of officials and monitoring ongoing activities must help to implement government policies successfully that tends to expedite development. So, ministers, secretaries, heads of departments and division, district and upazila level heads of departments concerned must have the tendency of undertaking extensive field visits rather than working sitting only in the offices. Ministers as the administrative heads of ministries who visit extensively for monitoring progress of ongoing activities and performances of field level officials definitely get fruitful results in the development process of that ministry.
Farmers, teachers, fishermen, parents and guardians of students and other service receivers from public offices have complaints against government offices over not getting proper support from departments concerned now-a-days. The reason behind this is absence of field visits by government officials of respective departments. Government officials identify some areas that are responsible for weaker field visit, non-availability of adequate vehicles, insufficient allotment of money regarding fuel and TA/DA, lack of commitment, reluctance of performing assigned responsibilities and lesser opportunities of finding enough time for field visits as office heads are too busy with department and other departments' meetings, trainings, workshops, seminars, rallies etc. The consequences of weaker field visits by government officials are detrimental to getting rational output of utilised money and manpower by the government.
Because of existing policy, district and upazila level government officials are too busy with meetings for a significant part of their working hours. Despite arranging intra-departmental meetings, they have to attend meetings of other departments as the members of different committees. They have to attend meetings for, on an average, two or three days in a week at DC office or Upazila Parishad office that in most cases never start and end at proper time. Moreover they have to attend workshops, training, seminars and rallies. Is it possible for division, district and upazila level officers of vital departments like Agriculture, Primary Education/Education, Social Welfare, LGED, Fisheries etc to find sufficient time for extensive and frequent field visit considering the time needed in attending departmental and other departmental meetings/trainings/ workshops?  
Government may consider some new initiatives to be taken for encouraging government officials to visit and monitor field level activities extensively to expedite development. Monthly target for field visit should be mandatory and there should be strict monitoring system by superior authority concerned for ensuring accountability. Target-wise written reports for field visits should be sent to the higher authority concerned and these should be properly evaluated. Failure in fulfilling target-wise field visits or performing ineffective visits, punitive actions might be taken against officials concerned. A quarterly departmental review meeting might be organised at district/division level to evaluate field visit reports as well as to collect feedback. Zero tolerance should be shown in case of ineffective field visits by division, district and upazila/union level government officials of departments like LGED, Roads & Highways Division, Primary Education, Agriculture, Education, Fisheries, Health and Public Health. There should be only one committee for each department at upazila, district and division level and all decisions might be taken by this committee meeting. Members of the committee should sit in a meeting once in a month at DC office and Upazila Parishad. Divisional/District/Upazila Administration might allocate one or two days in a month for organising all departments committee meeting.  Divisional/District/Upazila development and coordination meetings should be summoned once in a month as usual. Day-long departmental meeting should be organised once in a month. This will certainly reduce burdens of attending meetings. Incentives should be given to government officials who have reputation of extensive and effective field visit. Field level government officials should be provided with transport facilities ensuring adequate fuel. Misuse of government vehicles and fuel should be punished strongly. There should be sufficient and rational amount of money as allotment of TA/DA for government officials.  
For ensuring good governance in government machinery, politicians of government and opposition parties should also have commitment and honesty so that government officials can refrain from getting involved with unethical activities in performing their duties neutrally and efficiently.  

The writer is working for primary education in Bangladesh.
Email: auparbayazidkhan@gmail.com