Why is Roads and Highways department ignoring govt orders?
It is unfortunate that the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is allowing its officials to operate from their headquarters in the capital instead of their respective project sites, as they were supposed to. The department is making this exception despite repeated directives from the government instructing project officials to stay at project sites. Reportedly, RHD has allocated office spaces for at least six projects located outside Dhaka at its newly-constructed headquarters in Dhaka. What we do not understand is why the department is ignoring the government orders and how the officials will work for projects in Rangpur, Pirojpur, Tangail and other districts while staying in Dhaka. Moreover, as office spaces are being allocated in the RHD headquarters for these projects, other wings of the department are not being able to function properly due to space constraints.
Already, there were allegations against many RHD project and field-level officials of not attending their project office regularly. The road transport and bridges minister was also very annoyed at this practice and raised questions about the necessity of so many project offices in Dhaka. Reportedly, in September last year, the Road Transport and Highway Division issued a directive saying that all project and field level officials must attend their respective offices regularly. Last year's government directive also mentioned that "faults have been found in the works for constructing quality roads and in their maintenance of ongoing projects" because the project officials did not perform their duties properly. However, it seems all the government directives fell on deaf ears as the RHD officials are still not staying at their project sites.
There is a common allegation against the government officials in the country that they often do not stay at their workstations as those are situated at remote places, and instead stay in the capital for a major part of the month. Many government officials do not stay at their designated quarters and take the house rent instead. And it seems the officials of the Roads and Highways department are no exception.
We think the government must take a strong stance on this and make it mandatory for all the government employees to stay in their respective areas. This should also apply to those who work under various projects for short periods. As for the Roads and Highways department, they must comply with the government directives and stop allocating office spaces for projects outside Dhaka. It is for such unethical practices that our road construction and development projects often get delayed and their cost escalates while resources are wasted. Such practices must stop.
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