No top posts for DIP officials at passport-visa wings in missions abroad
Around eight years ago, the government established passport and visa wings at different Bangladesh missions to provide better services to expatriates and visitors.
A total of 73 posts were created for 19 missions -- three to five posts for each wing -- to be filled up by officials and staffers of the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP), as they have the expertise in the field.
Since the wings went into operation in 2015, not a single DIP official has been appointed as first secretary, the top among the positions, till date. Instead, senior assistant secretaries bagged the posts.
Of the remaining posts, only 40 percent were filled by DIP staffers, according to sources at the Department.
Interestingly, the ministry officials have to undergo training by none other than DIP personnel before being assigned to the wings, the sources told this newspaper.
DIP officials say the practice has been in place as the home ministry, under which the department functions, deviated from a section of the proposal that deals with the appointment, although it was approved by the prime minister.
This shift is not only depriving the DIP professionals but also denying the Bangladeshi nationals living in different countries and visitors from across the world better and quality services, they allege.
Disappointed, some DIP officials further said passport enrolment is a technical job, and the missions could offer better services with right people in those positions.
"They do not have the required expertise, and yet they want to secure these posts. But we are the ones who provide the senior assistant secretaries and home ministry staffers a month-long training on technical issues of passport and visa processing," a high official of DIP told The Daily Star, requesting anonymity.
As the "odd system" still remains in place, DIP employees who have the required skills are not getting the opportunity they deserve, he said.
THE PROPOSAL
The government decided to create passport and visa wings in different missions abroad in 2012 following a home ministry proposal.
In a letter to the prime minister on June 6 that year, the home ministry proposed that the government set up special wings in 24 missions as machines for issuing Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) and Machine Readable Visas (MRVs) had already been installed there.
But due to a lack of experienced manpower, those were being of no use, the letter read.
"The officials of the Department of Immigration and Passport are experts and experienced in passport and visa processing. If these experts and experienced people are employed in the missions abroad, better services can be provided to visa and passport seekers."
To that end, the home ministry proposed creating 366 posts in 66 missions.
Following the PM's approval on June 26, 2012, the home ministry on July 3 requested the public administration ministry to create posts for the passport and visa wings.
The public administration ministry on September 16, 2012, approved creation of 73 posts in 19 Bangladeshi missions.
But the home ministry gazette issued on June 17, 2014, read the first secretary posts would be filled up by senior assistant secretaries and "the posts will be reserved for home ministry officials".
The Daily Star has obtained copies of all the government orders and the home ministry's proposal approved by the PM.
Since 2015, around 40 DIP staffers have been recruited as administrative officers and office assistants-cum-computer operators for the wings, said sources in the DIP admin wing, adding that the rest are from the home ministry.
Major Gen Mohammad Ayub Chowdhury, director general of DIP, told The Daily Star that the output of the services would not be optimum if the right person does not get the right position.
Anyone not familiar with the process of passport enrolment will not understand technical issues like biometrics and photographs, he explained.
"For example, a passport is pending for vacant verification -- anyone who does not have the knowledge will not understand that it means the passport requires a police verification report," said the DG.
Asked why passport officials were not appointed to the top positions in the wings, the DG said it is the government's decision. "But I will say that if the passport officials were selected for the posts, the quality of the service would have improved."
Zahid Hossain, joint secretary (Immigration-1, 2, security branch, and immigration-1 Section) of home ministry's security service division, told The Daily Star last week that the passport and visa wing is an extension of the home ministry.
The first secretary posts in the wings are for admin cadre service officials and they are sent to this assignment for a four-year term, he said, adding that both DIP and ministry staffers get the rest of the technical positions.
When told that DIP officials and staffers are supposed to get all these posts as per the first proposal approved by the prime minister, he declined to make any comment. "This is in accordance with the rules," he claimed.
He also said they send officials and staffers to these posts through an open competition.
"Before sending people to the missions, we issue a circular, and interested candidates apply for the positions. Every time, over a hundred officials apply and around 20 get selected," added Zahid.
However, a number of DIP officials claimed there were no rules in the previous orders that only cadre officials were eligible to apply.
"We at least want the opportunity to apply for the positions and would accept it if we are announced disqualified," said a high official of DIP.
Asked how much money the establishment of the wings involved, an official from the ministry and two DIP employees said it was not possible to provide this estimate at this moment and the spending varies from mission to mission.
The first secretary of a passport and visa wing at a mission abroad would get his or her basic salary in US dollars.
Alongside, he or she would get a $1,414 foreign allowance and a $436 entertainment allowance per month.
A $20,000 yearly education allowance would also be sanctioned for the official whereas a three-room house and 90 percent medical expenses would be arranged by the government.
Once a year, the delegate would be facilitated with air tickets for a maximum of five members of his family, according to home ministry sources.
'SUBVERTING THE CAUSE'
Speaking on the issue, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International, Bangladesh, said, "This is a blatant example of undue advantage usurped by the admin cadres depriving the deserving professional candidates, in this case relevant officials of the passport department."
This also undermines the underlying rationale for the prime minister's approval, which was obtained on the basis of submission of specific commitment to sending officials with expertise and experience in serving in the passport department.
It shows how a section of public officials take openings for foreign postings as an opportunity of profiteering rather than serving the purpose. The quality of delivery of the services in the offices concerned abroad will suffer, he added.
"On the other hand, the whole episode will be a source of frustration and disincentive for the genuinely deserving officials involved in the work of passport delivery, and demoralise them," he added.
Iftekharuzzaman said this must not be allowed and those responsible for "subverting the cause of a good initiative" with the highest level approval should be held to account for abuse of power.
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