Finance minister's statement
I have read with interest the following statement by the Finance Minister published in DS, July 12. "Bangladesh's bureaucracy is not efficient enough to deal with this sort of cases (Tata's investment proposal) quickly and that is why more time is needed, he explained". But this is hardly any surprising outcome. Under the four- party alliance rule, the criteria for promotion as secretaries have been the following: (i) Being a Jamaat cadre (there are several of them); (ii) Being linked with the alternative power centre ; and (iii) Being blessed by a powerful minister or one of the senior bureaucrats at the PMO. A variant of Gresham's law, "Bad officers(money) drive good officers(money) out of circulation" is in vogue in Bangladesh bureaucracy today. Officials who could have provided informed response to Tata's proposal were unjustly denied promotion.
Cleansing deadwoods from top echelons of bureaucracy and injecting professionalism in it should be a priority task for the incoming caretaker and the next elected government.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.