Officials from 25 cadres of the Bangladesh Civil Service, other than the administrative cadre, on Tuesday observed a one-hour work abstention in offices across the country, demanding elimination of discrimination in the civil service.
They protested against the quota system proposed by the public administration reform commission, the exclusion of education and health cadres from the cadre service and discrimination in promotions.
They are also scheduled to hold human-chain programmes in front of their job stations for an hour tomorrow.
Education cadre officials on the same day at a press conference gave an ultimatum till December 29 to drop an 鈥榓ttempt鈥� to remove them from the cadre service.
Under the banner of Inter-Cadre Council to Eliminate Discrimination, officials from all BCS cadres except administration refrained from work from 11:00am to 12:00pm in offices across the country on Tuesday, following an earlier announcement, said Council convener Muhammad Mofizur Rahman in a press release.
Public administration reform commission chief Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury on December 17 told reporters that the commission would recommend individual service-oriented commissions like the Judicial Service Commission, for the health and education sectors and 50 per cent of the promotions to the position of deputy secretary be reserved for officials from the administration cadre and the rest would be filled from the 25 other cadres.
Protesting at the proposals to be submitted to the interim government, the Council leaders on December 21 in a statement said that BCS cadres other than administration considered the reform commission鈥檚 planned proposals 鈥榙iscriminatory鈥� and part of a 鈥榗onspiracy鈥� and added that the recommendations, if implemented, would create serious chaos in the civil service.
Between 11:00am and 12:00pm on Tuesday, officials of different cadres were seen coming out of their offices, including the Secretariat, Shikkha Bhaban, Department of Agricultural Extension in the capital Dhaka.
Many officials of the Department of Secondary and Higher Education under the education ministry were seen standing on the Shikkha Bhaban premises to press home their demands.
SM Saiful Islam, assistant director of the department, said that the July mass uprising was initiated against the discrimination in the quota system.
鈥楬ow is this government allowing this discrimination against us after the mass uprising?鈥� he questioned.
In the press release, Council convener Muhammad Mofizur Rahman said that the Council also decided to organise human-chain programmes in front of offices across the country from 11:00am to 12:00pm on December 26 and hold a rally in Dhaka on January 4.
Under the banner of BCS General Education Association, education cadre officials held a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital on the day.
They upheld a 15-point charter of demands, including the ditching of the plan for excluding the education cadre from the civil service, merit- and competition-based appointment to deputy secretary position, promotion and new position, effective implementation of transfer guideline, dignity-based position for education cadre and equal opportunities for all cadres.
The association president, Md Sirajul Islam, alleged that there were dishonest and special purposes behind the motive of the commission鈥檚 proposal.
Its general secretary Md Tajib Uddin said that about 16,000 education cadre officials had been facing discrimination for a long time.
If their demands are not meet by December 29, they would announce their next course of action on December 31, the leaders of the association added.
