Bapex staff hold sit-in demanding permanent jobs
Bapex adamant to not formalise jobs of those working without registering under any circular
A group of employees of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) is holding a sit-in programme in the capital with the demand to make their job permanent.
The agitators said that they arranged the protest after getting no response from the prime minister's office, state minister for power and mineral resource and Bapex managing director to a memorandum they submitted earlier.
Bapex Managing Director Mohammad Ali has asserted that those getting jobs without any circular would in no way be formalised as permanent employees of the organisation.
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Some 500 employees working for Bapex in 14 gas fields across the country have been demonstrating in front of the National Press Club since Sunday.
The protesters announced that they will continue the sit-in programme until their demands are met and have threatened to fast to death.
Md Faisal Ahmed, a mechanic working in the Bapex building, said that some of the employees who got temporary appointments have been working for 30 years and gained experience and knowledge about all aspects of the gas field.
"But a vicious circle within the administration is indulging in a nefarious conspiracy to source temporary workers from outside, instead of making the existing workforce permanent," he said.
Storekeeper Bayezid said, "We were assured by the administration that our jobs would be permanent. Therefore, we were not focused on any other jobs. Now if our jobs are not made permanent, we will starve to death."
They said that hiring incompetent and newcomers while neglecting the experienced and long-serving employees will hamper all the works of Bapex – ultimately resulting in financial losses for the state.
When contacted, Bapex Managing Director Mohammad Ali said that there are two types of temporary employees in the organisation. Some of them entered under temporary recruitment circulars while others entered without registration under any circular.
Authorities are making those employees permanent who have entered the organisation through a temporary recruitment circular. But there is no way to accord permanent recruitment to those who have got jobs without any circular, he said.
