Field administration in the districts across the country has been struggling hard for a long time to serve people due to a severe shortage of senior officials.
Many posts of senior assistant commissioner and assistant commissioner (land) at the deputy commissioners’ (DC) offices have been lying vacant for a long time.
Officials say they cannot conduct drives against adulteration and illegal establishments because of the lack of adequate manpower.
Usually, the officials have to spend a lot of time to provide protocol to ministers, state ministers and persons with equal status visiting the areas.
According to the officials at DC offices, people suffer the most on the issues related to land.
The public administration ministry says against 1,800 posts of senior assistant secretaries, as many as 1,434 are working now.
In the field administration, 700 to 800 more assistant secretaries (assistant commissioners) are required to deliver services properly, as only 1,091 have been working, said officials.
“We deliver various services including mutation of land, settlement of fallow land and other land-related problems,” an assistant commissioner (land) under the Barisal division said yesterday, seeking anonymity.
“A huge number of posts of AC Land have been lying vacant for long all over the country. As a result, the people are deceived a lot,” the official told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone.
For example, a senior official at the field administration explains, every DC office has an allocation of five to six senior assistant commissioners. Unfortunately, a single officer has to do everything now, which is very difficult.
According to the ministry, a total of 146 posts of AC Land out of 487 are now lying vacant.
Out of the 146 posts, 11 are vacant in Dhaka division, 38 in Chittagong, 15 in Rajshahi, 28 in Rangpur, 22 in Barisal, 11 in Sylhet and 21 in Khulna division.
The land ministry gives appointment in the AC Land post.
In Narail DC office, there are nine posts of assistant commissioners. Now seven assistant commissioners are working there. However, three officers would leave the office soon for training. As a result, four officers will have to do the day-to-day jobs of nine.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Gaffar Khan said: “We are working hard to deliver services to the people.”
A UNO from Kishoreganj district said they could not conduct drives because of the shortage of officers.
Senior Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder of the public administration ministry is aware of the situation. “We have nothing to do unless new officers are appointed. We are working on it,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. However, he added that things would change once officers who are currently in training joined work.