The achievement of the government’s development targets is being impeded by a growing discontent among economic cadres in the civil service over the facilities they are receiving, stakeholders have said.
Although the economic and administration cadres perform almost similar tasks, the admin cadres are being given priority when it comes to promotion and allowances.
“I have been working as a senior assistant chief at the ministry for three years. In which time two of my colleagues from the admin cadre have been promoted but not me,” an economic cadre said.
BCS Economic Association chief Jahangir Alam said the discrimination is affecting the performance of more than 500 economic cadres whose main tasks are development planning and execution.
The admin cadres, heading the promotion committees, prioritize officers from their pool. The economic cadres claim that the “vital roles” they play are being ignored by the committees.
Having noticed the rift, the Public Administration Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Planning Commission to merge the two cadres in 2016.
“Development works can be accelerated if the government merges the two cadres,” Jahangir said.
The planned merger is currently awaiting the approval of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is thought to be in favour of the move. However, opposition from a group of influential admin cadres is delaying implementation of the merger.
A senior economic cadre said many countries, including China and the Philippines, are going to merge their administration and planning commissions to ensure sustainable development.
“It will be difficult for the government to achieve its development goals without full cooperation from the economic cadres,” the official added.
