EDITORIAL
Holding sinecure on public money
What a criminal waste!
THE figures are mind-boggling. In a country like ours the public has paid taka 151 crores, according to a report published in this newspaper, for the upkeep of more than three and half thousand public servants without their having to do any work at all. These are the so called 'officers on special duty' or OSD, a convenient euphemism for those that the government finds 'unsuitable' for their needs and simply set them aside. This is a ten-year data of the period between 2004 and 2013. And both the BNP and AL government are culpable of such wasteful acts.
It is a pity that a perfectly legitimate arrangement has been misused by all the governments. And it is not only setting aside public servants that belong to the 'other camp,' there are instances where a large number of newly promoted bureaucrats had to be kept in that status since there was no vacancy, because the promotions were given as a largesse to the favoured ones.
We cannot afford to endure this situation. It is not only costly in terms of money it also is a waste of a man's talent from which the nation is being deprived of.
The government has been asked by the High Court to explain the matter. But one can hardly expect a rational answer for a blatantly irrational act. But, hopefully, intervention of the HC would help reduce the number of OSDs if not totally eliminate a phenomenon that is based on partisan considerations.
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