Once again, mass promotions of the senior government officials are on the card. The government, according to concerned sources and media, are set to promote a total of 705 officials to the ranks of deputy, joint and additional secretaries. The Ministry of Public Administration has already sent a summery to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with names of the officials to be promoted. The PM is in charge of this ministry and is expected to approve the list after scrutiny.
However, there appears to be a problem. The past practice has been that usually any promotion is given against a vacant post. The sanctioned posts in the administration in the three categories mentioned are 1,300; but already a total of 2,348 officers are working in those posts. If the new promotion list is approved by the PMO, the total number of officials in those positions would be 3053. The acute shortage of office accommodation for the senior government officials would be further aggravated once the list of promotion is approved.
It should be pointed out that soon after the January 05, 2014 elections through which the AL government retained power, a total of 70 deputy secretaries were promoted to the post of joint secretaries. They are part of the 2,348 officers already holding offices.
It is also said that the Superior Selection Board (SSB), headed by the Cabinet Secretary, has followed the procedures necessary for the consideration of officers for promotion through interviews as well as going through their official career records etc. during the last two months. The SSB finalised the list of 705 officials out of about 1,700 aspirants.
The government has always been known as top-heavy even when 1,300 deputy, joint secretaries and additional secretaries were posted to the 1,300 sanctioned posts. But now with nearly two and a half times more bureaucrats than the sanctioned posts, it tends to become that much more top-heavy and bloated. Â
With practically no opposition in the true sense of the term in existence in parliament, no government decision - minor or major - has to face any problem there. After all, the opposition too - including the Leader of the Opposition - is officially a part of the functioning government.
YABA MENACE, POLICE AND SOCIETY: The news about the growing addiction to Yaba tablets by the young and not so young children of relatively well-to-do families is no longer new. During the span of a decade or so, the addiction to Yaba tablets has become a widespread menace to society. According to an estimate, there are about 50 lakh (five million) drug addicts in the country and half of them accounts for Yaba addiction. These addicts consume at least two tablets each or 50 lakh (five million) pieces of Yaba daily. In the last seven years or so, the law-enforcement agencies have managed to seize about 95 lakh (9.5 million) pieces of the tablets from the drug peddlers.
The country's otherwise powerful Drug Control body and the numerous law enforcement agencies' attempts to check the sources of Yaba supply and eliminate the scourge have failed to make any dent. This is a big business. Each tablet sells at TK 300 and involves a daily transaction of TK 1500 million (Tk 150 crore) and annual transaction of over Tk 540 billion (Tk 54000 crore).
Drug Control agency tends to believe that the addiction to Yaba tablets has kept on increasing not only in Dhaka and bigger cities and towns, but almost everywhere in the country because its supply appears to be endless and easy. Drug Control and police sources suggest that the rising supply of Yaba is being ensured by a powerful syndicate. There appears to be a nexus between a section of powerful politicians and a section of the law enforcement agencies and they have formed this syndicate to control this business.
 The equation is very simple, unless there is easy and adequate supply of this commodity, addicts could not have been hooked to this menace so easily. However, what is alarming is the business as usual attitude of the political leadership who are yet to realize the gravity of the situation. Â
 sayed.kamaluddin@gmail.com
The hazards of mass promotion
Sayed Kamaluddin | Published: April 06, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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