The interim government has made a tough decision about the indiscriminate naming of government organizations and establishments. In future, none can name government organizations and establishments as their wish expensing state money. A four-member advisory committee is being formed to make a legal frame for the naming of government establishments.
After getting approval from the Chief Adviser Prof Yunus, the committee would start formulating policy in this regard. Reliable sources from the chief adviser’s office and cabinet division confirmed this. A file on this issue has already been sent to the office of the chief adviser.
Sources said Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul will lead the advisory committee as convener while Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives and Land Adviser Hasan Arif, Housing and Public Works and Industry Adviser Adilur Rahman, Environment, Forest and Climate and Water Resource Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan will be included in it. The cabinet division will give the committee secretarial assistance.
It was seen that when political parties assumed power, they named the government establishments after a person ignoring rules. In some cases, some government employees set up pictures and nameplates of the ruling chief and party founder to satisfy the authority to make a bonanza. In this way, multiple establishments are renamed after one person or all persons of a family. The government does not care about the public criticism of these names.
Bureaucrats said when a new party assumes power, they renamed all the government establishments replacing their party chief name. They think only government money is expensed by doing such a job. Some government employees propose to rename establishments by ignoring their professionalism. On the other hand, sometimes government employees do the job due to political pressure. For this reason, a policy should be formulated to stop this trend, they opined.
If any ruling party wants to name or rename the government establishments after their party chief or founder in the future, they will have to follow the guidelines or policies. The advisory committee will work in this regard.
Earlier on August 22, the decision to form the advisory committee came in the meeting of advisers chaired by Chief Adviser Prof Yunus. In the meeting, the name of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was dropped from the name of Sheikh Hasina Youth Development Institute by amendment. A decision was also taken in the meeting to rename all high-tech parks, IT training and incubation centres across the country. All these establishments will be renamed after their respective district.
On that day, Environment, Forest and Climate and Water Resource Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan told the media that the interim government would work to formulate a policy about naming the state establishments which would reflect public opinion. The names must not instigate fascism, she added.
@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on August 30, 2024, and has been rewritten in English by Golam Rosul.
