Rangabali Upazila
10 govt offices run with acting officers for years
Services badly suffer as they serve in addition to their regular service at a neighbouring upazila
Services in ten government offices at newly formed Rangabali upazila are greatly hampered due to acute shortage of manpower.
Officials of nearby upazilas work here on additional duty and they come here a day or twice in a month, said locals.
Due to this, around 2 lakh people in the upazila are being deprived of government services, said Md Saiduzzaman, chairman of Rangabali Union Parishad.
The offices are upazila Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), upazila health and family planning office, upazila project implementation office, upazila livestock office, upazila women affairs office, upazila social welfare office, upazila cooperative office, upazila family planning office, Ansar-VDP (Village Defense Party) office and upazila youth development office.
With five unions, Rangabali upazila covering 470 square kilometres comprises coastal islands in the Bay, isolated from the mainland.
On February 25 in 2012, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the activities of the upazila parishad. Later, a five-storied building, equipped with modern facilities, was built there to accomodate 17 government offices.
There are regular officers at seven of the offices while the rest are being run by acting officers from nearby Galachipa and Kalapara upazilas.
Galachipa LGED Engineer Md Atikur Rahman is working in Rangabali on additional duty and so, he cannot attend regularly.
Like him, all acting officers have to face various problems to cross the mighty Agunmukha river to reach the upazila as it is isolated from the mainland and it is difficult to get water transport for going there, said Md Delwar Hossain, chairman of Rangabali upazila, adding that a few engine-run trawlers are the only means to cross the river.
Often the employees have to go to Galachipa upazila headquarters to take signatures of the officers concerned, said Delwar.
Rangabali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Mashfaqur Rahman said he has already written to the higher authorities about the matter but to no response yet.