Top bureaucrats for innovation in admin

Top civil bureaucrats yesterday directed government officials to be ingenious, promote creativity and focus on making innovation a functional and popular practice in policy and decision implementation to bring a qualitative change in the administration.

This will also save money and time, reduce field visits and help serve people faster and better, senior secretaries told a policy review meeting, "Innovation Practice in the Public Administration: Progress and Prospects", in the capital's Bidyut Bhaban.

They asked ensuring services by setting up digital centres and introducing e-filing and multimedia classrooms and using social media to increase public contact and to get views on government initiatives.

Cabinet Division and Access to Information (A2I) Programme of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) jointly organised the meeting where 78 secretaries and 25 director generals (DG) of all the ministries and divisions were present.

Four secretaries and three DGs highlighted their innovation-based initiatives and most of the secretaries demanded additional funds to make creativity-centric activities sustainable. 

"If special allocation is given, pace of works will increase," said Chairman of Land Reforms Board Mahfuzur Rahman, which was echoed by others.

Power Secretary Monowar Islam said innovation brought down "system loss" from 40 to 12-13 percent and increased electricity generation.

Speaking in the chair, Principal Secretary to the PMO Abul Kalam Azad urged secretaries to undertake a policy to inspire commendable achievements though rewards to boost work progress and provide better services.

Kabir Bin Anwar, director general (administration) and project director of the A2I Programme, delivered the inaugural address while NM Ziaul Alam, acting secretary (coordination and reforms) of the cabinet division, presented the meeting's agendas.

Cabinet Secretary M Shafiul Alam was the chief guest while a former one, M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, was present.