‘Making crests was not Cabinet Division’s job’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chairs the cabinet meeting at the secretariat on Monday. Photo: BSS

The responsibility of making the crests for honouring foreign friends and organisations for their contributions to the Liberation War of Bangladesh was not with the cabinet, said Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan today.
Speaking about the impurity in the crests awarded to the friends of Bangladesh for their unforgettable contributions, he said that he had nothing to say about the matter since he was not responsible about it, reports the Bangla Daily Prothom Alo.
The cabinet secretary’s comment came following reporters queries in a press conference after a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
When asked about the Prothom Alo story titled, “12 ana of gold in crest fake”, Mosharraf Hossain said, the works were done by different divisions. The work of the Cabinet Division was to prepare citations, invitation cards and seat arrangements. The liberation war ministry and the foreign ministry each had their assigned jobs, he added.
The cabinet secretary added that it was not his responsibility to say who did what, the Bangla daily reports.
The crests that were given to statesmen, politicians, philosophers, artists and writers, intellectuals, prominent citizens and organisations from different countries for their unforgettable contributions to the Liberation War did not contain the amount of gold that they were supposed to. Instead of silver - brass, copper and alloy metals were used.
The facts about impurity came out through tests by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, the national standards bodies when The liberation war affairs ministry sent the crests that were made for the 61 recipients of the third phase of awarding to BSTI for testing. The recipients were honoured in seven phases.
The policy for honouring foreign individual says that every crest must contain 1 bhori (11.664 grams) gold and 30 bhori (351 grams) silver. But the BSTI tests found that only 2.363 grams gold was present. The tests also showed that instead of silver, 30 bhori of brass, copper and alloy metals were used, according to the Prothom Alo report.
After the cabinet meeting, the premier held a four-hour talk with the secretaries to the different ministers where she directed the administration to introduce public hearings at the field level to ensure accountabilities.
The hearings will solve people's problems and allegations more effectively and make the administration more accountable, said M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan at a press briefing after the marathon meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat.