Interim govt’s success or failure depends on maintaining law and order: Yunus
The chief adviser also announces that police verification will no longer be required to obtain a passport
The success or failure of the interim government now depends on keeping the country's law and order situation under control, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus said at the Deputy Commissioners' (DC) Conference this morning (16 February).
"Maintaining peace and order is the most important task is the top priority of the government in the current situation, so the DCs should not fail in any way to this end," he said.
He made the remarks while addressing the three-day-long conference's inauguration ceremony at the Shapla Hall of the Chief Adviser's Office (CAO) in Dhaka.
Mentioning protecting the rights of women, children, and minorities is the government's priority, the chief adviser directed the DCs to work sincerely in this regard.
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He said the entire country should be considered as one team and work accordingly. "Nothing should be done that would hamper the entire team's success."
The chief adviser urged the DCs to work according to their judgment, ignoring any threats from others, to strictly maintain law and order and to strengthen market monitoring in the country.
He stressed the need for maintaining coordination in the works of police and civil administration, asking them to comply with discipline in their work.
Regarding market monitoring, Prof Yunus also suggested starting a competition among the district administrations in supervising markets across the country.
If a system of ranking is developed in supervising markets within the district administrations, their contribution to market monitoring could be recognised, he said.
The chief adviser also asked the authorities concerned to make the online land registration process fully operational.
"The land registration process has been made online but why it is not being implemented? Where is the problem?" he said.
He also directed the DCs to pay attention to primary education to resolve problems.
No more police verification for passports
Addressing the conference, the chief adviser also announced that police verification will no longer be required to obtain a passport.
Describing this verification process as harassment, he said, "A passport is my right as a citizen. It is a citizen's identity card."
Yunus continued, "To get a passport, police verification is required. I started asking... why? A passport is a part of my rights as a citizen. Whether I am a thief or a bandit is something the police can judge in a different way.
"But when I was given my birth certificate, no police verification was required. When I received my National ID, I didn't have to wait for police verification either. It was given to me as a citizen."
"A passport is also an identity document for a citizen of this country. So why should police verification be necessary? We have enacted a law stating that police verification will not be required from now on to obtain a passport.
"These are not necessary. These are harassment," he said, adding that authorities concerned have been told to take steps to stop any kind of harassment of people in issuing passports.
Regarding birth registration, the chief adviser said the government must provide smooth service to the people in issuing birth certificates as this is their civic right.
He observed that people oftentimes face trouble in getting NID and passports for lack of birth certificates.
Moreover, the chief adviser mentioned that the delays in obtaining birth certificates must also be eliminated.
He said, "...if you pay, you can get it quickly. If it can be obtained with money, then it should also be available without payment. Why can't we make this system work?
"A birth certificate is also a citizen's right. The government cannot simply make excuses for failing to ensure it. There must be a solution. If unofficial channels can provide it for a fee, then why can't the government do the same efficiently?"
"Therefore, we must establish a system where a birth certificate is readily available whenever a citizen needs it, regardless of their age," said Yunus.
3-day-long conference
During a press conference at the Secretariat yesterday (15 February), Cabinet Secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid said the three-day-long conference will have four special and 30 working sessions.
He said these include the opening ceremony, a meeting with the chief justice, an open discussion with the chief adviser, and a meeting of the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association.
This year's conference will discuss 354 proposals from the DCs and divisional commissioners.
Although the Cabinet Division received 1,245 proposals from the divisional commissioners and DCs for the conference, many proposals were not included in the working paper due to disagreement from the concerned ministries and departments and because they were presented at the previous DC Conference, according to officials.
The main venue of the DC Conference is the Osmani Memorial Auditorium. There will be an open discussion between the chief adviser and the DCs there.
In the evening, there will be a meeting between the chief adviser and the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association, followed by a dinner with the chief adviser at night.
On Monday (17 February), apart from the working sessions, the DCs will meet the chief justice at the Supreme Court auditorium.
Every year, the DCs propose various facilities at the DC Conference.
However, this time, they have proposed to increase their legal powers. For this, they have asked to create the Legal Affairs Liaison Officer post in the offices of 64 DCs and eight divisional commissioners as soon as possible.
The conference will conclude on 18 February.
