Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina directed the deputy commissioners (DCs) on Tuesday to discharge their lawful responsibilities to protect public interests rising above fear and allurement, reports UNB. “The main responsibility of DCs is to ensure the security of public life and property, and ensure their unhindered movement,” the PM made the appeal while addressing the inaugural session of a three-day Deputy Commissioners’ Conference-2015 at her office in the city on Tuesday. Terming the DCs the bridge between the field-level administration and the central administration, the PM said they could perform their duties best when they remain strict to the truth and justice. She also asked them to deeply focus on issues like ensuring public services for common people without harassment, preventing women and child repression and trafficking, child marriage, eve-teasing and misuse of drugs, development of rural infrastructures, flourishing potential small and medium scale industries, helping flourish the ICT, working with public representatives at the grassroots level for building good governance, preventing dropout in educational institutions, ensuring agri-input supply, protecting the environment, rooting out militancy and terrorism, and preserving forests, rivers, lakes, and livestock. The PM instructed the DCs to adopt newer ways of work shedding the old mindset and thus help the country achieve its desired middle-income status by 2021. “Though the district administration was established during the colonial period, everything now has changed by the time, we’ll have to run the country, develop and advance it as an independent country, this is our main focus, we’ll have to step forward changing all the old perceptions,” she said. Hasina said the DCs must not confine themselves to their day-to-day routine work as they will have to think what new development programmes they could take for their respective districts so that those could contribute to the development of their areas. “You (DCs) must look for newer ways, techniques and of course take good care of the development programmes,” she said. Hasina said her government’s main aim is to build a hunger and poverty-free and happy and prosperous Bangladesh. “To attain that goal you must come out of old mindset of being only government officials. You’ll have to devote more to the service of the nation,” she said. Recalling the recent 92-day destructive politics of BNP-Jamaat nexus that left over 150 people dead, she said the government has been able to get rid of the situation due to the active role of the DCs across the country. “You’ll have to remain aware so that no one can indulge in such incidents again.” About human trafficking and drug smuggling, she said the government has identified some points across the country through where drugs are smuggled in. “You must take proper steps to contain the drug smuggling,” the PM told the DCs. She mentioned that there are some problems in Cox’s Bazar area where various incidents like drug smuggling and human trafficking are going on. “Although we’ve taken measurers already, you need to take tougher steps to end the menace.” Referring to various allowances under government’s social safety net programmes for poverty alleviation, Hasina asked the DCs to make it sure the really deserving people are getting the support. She also asked all the DCs to find out the landless and homeless people in their respective district and provide them houses under Ashrayan Project. Divisional Commissioner of Rangpur, Deputy Commissioners of Panchagarh, Kushtia and Narayanganj got ‘Digital Service Award’ for their outstanding services in promoting digital services in their respective areas. State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadiq, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong M Abdulla, DC, Satkhira Nazmul Hassan, DC, Habiganj Sabina Alam, and DC, Nilphamari Habibur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.
