He also urged the top district officials to play their active role in curbing corruption by involving people at the field level.

The chief adviser was inaugurating the Deputy Commissioners' Conference-2007 at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in the morning.

The government is pledge-bound to carry out its efforts for uprooting or reducing corruption as far as possible. The drive to curb corruption is going on in various ways and the accused corrupts are being put on trial as per laws of the land," he told the field level civil administrators.

Referring to his government's prime tasks, the chief adviser said the caretaker government "cannot and will not deviate from its main objective to hold a free, fair and credible election."

He reminded the government officials that an opportunity has now come to do away with the trend of the recent past of equating party-government-administration. "You have to be accountable to the state, people, constitution and law," he said.

During his guidelines-oriented address to the deputy commissioners, the caretaker chief dwelt on a number areas, including social and economic issues, public service, law and order and the government's polices and plan of action.

He discouraged unnecessary eviction of small and poor traders from urban and rural hats and bazars. "Informal economy plays an important role in the economy of Bangladesh through generating employment," he said.

The chief adviser asked the district authorities to take necessary steps within their jurisdiction for rehabilitating the poor and small traders.

About providing better public service, he suggested them to hang "client charter" in their respective offices to inform the service-seekers about the details to get government service promptly and smoothly.

The chief adviser urged the civil servants to come out of the "traditional mindset and system" in rendering services to the people.

Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumdar, Divisional Commissioner of Sylhet Aziz Hasan, Deputy Commissioners of Comilla Md Manzurur Rahman and Deputy Commissioner of Jessore Md Abul Hossain also spoke.

Advisers to the caretaker government, secretaries of different ministries, high civil and military officials and the divisional commissioners were present.

The chief adviser said there will be little scope for corruption if people are allowed to know the status of their works in government offices and the timeframe to have them done. "For that, strong monitoring is needed to find out the reasons behind unusual delay to have a job done and improve the standard of services."

He said "client charter" is being introduced in various government departments and institutions to provide standard services.

"The government is determined to establish good governance, but that is not possible overnight. Institutional reforms are needed to ensure good governance and the present government is working on that," he said.

As part of the reform measures, the CA said, the Election Commission, the Anti-corruption Commission and the Public Service Commission are being recast through appointment of honest and competent persons to key positions.

He asked the field-level officials to increase interactions with people, which will help them know their problems and resolve those accordingly.

He said an honest and efficient administration is necessary for building up a knowledge-based society to survive in this competitive world.

Speaking on the occasion, the DCs of Comilla and Jessore expressed their firm determination to carry out their jobs without fear or favour to win the fight against corruption.

The divisional commissioner of Sylhet said improvement of civil service is essential to sustain the outcome of various reforms and achievements of the caretaker government.