Retrenchment of employees

Public enterprises suffer losses due to corruption, pilferage, and mismanagement. Loss owing to surplus employees represents a portion of the total which needs to be examined. In my view, corruption is the main problem causing significant losses to the public sector enterprises. It is true that the revenue earning of Bangladesh can be increased many-fold by reducing losses in the public sector enterprises to zero.

The government can increase revenue earnings significantly by arresting corruption and improving the management efficiency of the public sector enterprises. The increased revenue will open scope for expansion of the existing enterprises and mobilise local resources for new investments. In this way it is possible to revamp the economy so that it can sustain the existing employees of the public sector and also create employment opportunities for the freshers.

A democratic government has great responsibility to promote welfare of its people. It is, no doubt, a challenging job to handle the situation in a proper way and act according to the socio-economic needs. But sometimes the development partners dictate their policies in such a way that goes against the interest of the people, and the nation has to pay heavily for it.

Therefore, the government is urged to reconsider the issue of retrenchment of employees of different state-owned enterprises. Rather, the government should formulate a long-term pragmatic plan to reform the economy to accommodate its manpower for participation in development activities.