Even though the Deputy Commissioner (DC) has been withdrawn from twenty-five districts, the government is still not in those districts, DC appointments.
The District Commissioner is the head of the District Civil Administration, which is responsible for the local administration's supervision and effectively ensuring public service. The DCs are now held to be in additional responsibilities as they are the responsibility of the district council and the municipality.
Now the additional district administrators have to handle the work of these 21 districts, on the other hand, the four DCs who have been transferred are affected by the floods, they have to stay in their previous workplaces.
According to sources, the Ministry of Public Administration is not able to appoint DCs in the districts now because it takes time to prepare a list of suitable officials for this work.
A joint secretary of the cabinet department, on condition of anonymity, said that the interim government does not want to use the list of officials prepared by the previous government in the appointment of new DCs.
The official said that the list prepared by the government led by Hasina is considered to be made with the officials close to that government.
Usually, before the transfer of existing DCs, the government first appoints new DCs, sometimes, the two are done together.
The official said, ‘However, the interim government has ordered the transfer of DCs of almost half of the districts without preparing the transfer list.’
On August 20, the government withdrew DCs from districts including Dhaka, Gazipur, Chittagong, Mymensingh and Cox's Bazar and attached it to various ministries, directorates and offices.
DCs of Chandpur, Comilla, Noakhali and Moulvibazar are staying at their respective stations due to floods.
After the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, many DC and UNO offices were attacked and some officials had to flee their workplaces for fear of their lives.
Soon after the formation of the interim government, many DCs wanted to be transferred and officials, who believed that they were kept aside during the Awami League regime, started lobbying to become DCs.
A day after giving additional responsibility to the DCs to the Zilla Parishad and Municipal Administrators, the government transferred 25 of them.
The government has also dissolved the governing body of secondary and higher secondary educational institutions, district and divisional sports councils.
As a result, the responsibility of their supervision and formation of new committees is on the DCs.
‘Now that there is no parliamentarian and local government representative, we have to face threats from various quarters. We have to deal with a lot of things,’ said a Deputy Commissioner on condition of anonymity.’
‘Besides, there is constant fear of transfer. We don't know when our turn will come," said the official.
Several DCs said they could not make specific decisions during the ‘transfer’, because it could complicate the matter for their successors, and some of the organizations' activities are being affected.
A DC, who recently left his workplace, said they had deliberately decided not to have a school management committee.
He said, if I had a committee it would have created a new debate because I was called a loyalist of the previous government.
Another DC said, ‘The field level officials are terrified by the large transfer of DCs. The routine work is being disrupted due to the fear of transfer. The people who have been transferred are now doing well.’
An official of the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner's office said that they inquired about the formation of the committee of the educational institution and sports organization, but, due to “uncertainty about transfer”, the official said that no new decision is being taken.
If you want to know about the new DC recruitment Mokhleshur Rahman, senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, said that a new DC will be appointed soon.
