Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked the public servants to shun the ‘red tape culture’ and pick the work that will be beneficial for the country and its people.

‘There’ll be complexities in every work…once there was a red tape culture; now we’re using white tape (in public office files), but it doesn’t imply that the work will be getting quicker for using the white tape as the red tape (culture) still exists,’ she said.   

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating National Public Service Day 2018 and distributing Public Administration Award 2018 at Osmani Memorial Auditorium here.

She asked the public servants to eliminate the ‘red tape culture’ and not put government works on hold. ‘Make it sure that no work remains stuck, no work should be kept aside. It happens sometimes that a public servant doesn’t show much interest in a particular file and it’s kept aside the table, sometimes that the public servant forgets about that file or loses it.’

Sheikh Hasina went on saying, ‘Again, public servants come up with such projects to spend unnecessary public money that will have less impacts or effectiveness; or the people of the country are unlikely to get any benefit from it.’

The Prime Minister directed the public servants to think first about what the results and benefits their works will bring in for the country and its people. ‘You have to think those first…you’ve to work in that manner and think about the welfare of the grassroots people.’

She mentioned further, ‘There was a time when the public servants always thought that it’s a government job, we’ll get our salaries, no matter we work or not. Such thinking is not acceptable at all.’

The Prime Minister reminded public servants, ‘The meaning of government job is to receive salaries and wages from the money that all the people, including farmers and labourers, give to the government in taxes. You’re receiving salaries and relax in luxury, and everything that comes that comes from the pockets of the mass people. You’ve to always think about how you could provide service to them.’    

Hasina urged the civil servants to work with innovative ideas to resolve the problems of their respective areas and implement development programmes based on local perspectives.

She said a separate branch, ‘Governance Innovation Unit’, has been set up aiming to simplify government service through their new innovations.

The Prime Minister said the government has a plan to introduce bullet train or speedy train services from Dhaka to Chittagong, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Barishal-Payra Port and Kolkata, reducing the travel time between the places to one hour. ‘If we can introduce this speedy train, the communications of the country will be very faster.’  

Recalling the disparity in public services among the people of the then East Pakistan and West Pakistan, Hasina said so many people of the country are serving in higher posts of the government as Bangabandhu has liberated the country.

Highlighting the successes of her government, including raising the per capita income, foreign currency reserve, GDP growth with the help of the public servant, she extended thanks to them for their sincere cooperation.

She also mentioned that the salaries of government employees have been hiked by 123 percent.

The programme was addressed, among others, by State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadeq and Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam. Public Administration Secretary Faiz Ahmed delivered the welcome address.

Earlier, the prime Minister distributed Public Administration Medal 2018.