Ministries pay little heed to PM's directives

In a 2011 meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the relevant agency for keeping separate lanes for slow moving vehicles while constructing the Jatrabari-Kanchpur road, but they did not comply with the order.

In the second Ecnec meeting after assuming power in 2009, Sheikh Hasina gave a similar instruction to the relevant authorities to construct such lanes on all highways of the country.

The prime minister later also gave the same order to the authorities for several other times but never was it followed.

At present, hundreds of projects on road construction, widening or upgrading to four lanes are going on in the country, the authorities have kept separate lanes on only three roads.

In an Ecnec meeting on January 13, 2009, the premier gave another instruction for avoiding land acquisition for different projects as far as possible, but almost all projects are coming to the Planning Commission with an additional land acquisition proposal.

The Project Evaluation Committee and the Expenditure Rationalisation Committee regularly minimise the area of land acquisition for projects.

There are several other directives to avoid croplands and instead, extract soil from nearby rivers and canals to implement road construction projects. But the authorities are not complying with these directives too.

As a result, the prime minister is compelled to give the same directives again in another Ecnec meeting.

The Planning Commission has prepared a summary report of 484 such directives of the premier over the last 10 years. The report was presented in the Ecnec meeting on Tuesday.

According to the plan, the report will later be sent to all ministries and divisions, secretaries, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and project directors, said a source from the planning ministry.

In this regard, Dr Shamsul Alam, a member of General Economic Division (GED) of the planning commission, said it is the responsibility of all secretaries to implement what the prime minister says as the head of the government.

"The prime minister's instructions must be followed. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to flouting job disciplines," he added.

Planning Secretary Md Nurul Amin said some instructions of the prime minister have already been implemented, while some are being executed.

Some instructions cannot be implemented overnight but need a long time, he said, adding that all the instructions have been brought under one report so that they can properly be executed to ensure sustainable development of the country.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned are not paying any heed to the prime minister's directions time and again to take proper action plans in order to cut project costs and duration.

They also do not follow the prime minister's repeated urges to conduct necessary surveys before river dredging, perform maintenance following capital dredging, measure the dredged soil properly, avoid dumping the dredged soil on cultivable lands and preserve the recovered land.

The prime minister's three-time instructions about setting up a primary school, a high school and a collage on the same compound in Hatirjheel area of the capital was also not complied with.

Besides, the premier's direction about converting and upgrading all rail lines to the dual-gauge double lines in order to operate direct trains in the east and west zones of the country has also being implemented at a snail's pace.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emphasised a detailed survey on the current status of existing rail bridges across the country so that initiatives can be taken to repair the worn-out bridges, but the rail ministry did not comply with it.