Unnecessary waste of time and money in resolving disputesAnother sound disruption in Parliament; Who is responsible?

Since the beginning of the 13th National Parliament session, the sound system outage in the Parliament has been affecting the functioning of the entire Parliament. After the July Movement, the entire Parliament building was reduced to rubble. The eager crowd entered the main gallery of the Parliament building and damaged important state documents, furniture, installations and equipment used to conduct parliamentary activities. Later, during the tenure of the newly-departed interim government, initiatives were taken to rebuild, restore and repair them.

Sources say that the appropriate authorities have not received the amount of money needed to restore and repair the main gallery of the Parliament Building, which has been damaged to the extent.

Who is responsible?

Last Monday, during the session of the National Assembly, the entire sound system was shut down. As a result, the smooth functioning of the session was halted.

If the maximum use of technology and its maintenance cannot be ensured in an important place like the National Assembly, then the capacity of the country's technology sector will be questioned. This picture is prevalent in all important institutions of the state.

Read more: Sound system worth 'Tk 4.78 crore' in Parliament out of order, five engineers accused of negligence

The Parliament Secretariat and the Public Works Department are now embarrassed by the sound system outage at the Parliament House. The sound system has repeatedly been out of order, and the sound system outage has added a new dimension to the crisis, as the headphone scandal has not yet been resolved.

Now the question is, why was a very important and sensitive place like the National Parliament building renovated with a lot of repairs? It is not possible to repair everything. Now the entire sound system has to be replaced. So who will take responsibility for the amount of money and time that has already been wasted?

According to multiple sources, there is a serious shortage of manpower within the department to work with adequate high-tech technology. The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department has already admitted this to various media outlets. So, an alternative solution must be found.

Public Works' E/M department lags behind in technology

Now let's review the E-M Department of the Public Works Department. The E-M Department is always associated with technology. Just as high-tech technology is being modernized day by day, the engineers working in the Public Works Department are not being modernized.

Engineers are forced to swallow their complacency by accepting what contractors are explaining due to their weaknesses in the use of technology. Because no engineer will admit their limitations or failures. If the maximum use of technology and its maintenance cannot be ensured in an important place like the National Parliament, then the capacity of the country's technology sector will be questioned. This picture is prevalent in all important institutions of the state.

Is the Parliament building secure at all?

Now we need to turn our attention to the security of the National Parliament Building area. In general, due to a major laxity in the security system of the Parliament Building area, copper bars worth crores of taka were stolen from the public works godown.

The responsibility of maintaining these copper bars was the responsibility of the Executive Engineer and Deputy Assistant Engineer of the E-M Department. But they could not maintain this state asset, nor could they prevent it from being stolen.

However, information about the illegal acquisition of crores of taka in the personal records of these two officials has emerged. Where is the source of this wealth? Didn't they tremble at the thought of stealing from an important establishment like the Parliament?

Light punishment for big sins

Five engineers of the Public Works Department are in charge of the sound system, electrical system and maintenance of the Parliament Building—Additional Chief Engineer (E/M) Md. Ashraful Haque, Supervising Engineer Mahbubul Haque Chowdhury, Executive Engineer of Public Works EM Division-7 Md. Anwar Hossain, Sub-Divisional Engineer Asifur Rahman and Sub-Assistant Engineer Shamsul Islam.

However, the ministry and the department have only discharged their responsibilities by transferring the executive engineer Anwar Hossain and deputy assistant engineer Helal Uddin involved in this incident from their jobs to other places.

With the recurrence of incidents like power outages and sound outages in an important government institution like the Parliament building, the question naturally arises as to why, despite repeated occurrences of the same problem, proper supervision and effective action are not being taken against the concerned officials involved in the incident.

However, according to relevant sources, a complaint has been filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) from the Parliament Secretariat for a proper investigation into the incident. In the meantime, it is learnt that a relevant department of the ACC is starting a preliminary investigation into the matter.

Government job is a golden deer that once you get it, you will not lose your job even if you commit hundreds of crimes. Day after day, the appropriate authorities are either transferring the job from one place to another or attaching it to the senior office. But there are hundreds of important allegations against them like tender corruption and irregularities. Every engineer has a mountain of illegal assets in his name and anonymity.

The Finance Today, a popular investigative journalism outlet in the country, has already exposed these black cats of the Public Works Department. As far as we know, several more officials involved in the activities of the Parliament Building may be punished. However, the extent of the punishment is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, a corrupt engineer of the E-M department, who is in the top position of the E-M department, is desperate to get a post in the Parliament area. The said officer is currently working in the head office. The deputy assistant engineer, sub-divisional engineer, executive engineer, supervising engineer and additional chief engineer associated with the Parliament building; the record of each of them and the picture of corruption is horrific. The Finance Today also has a list of assets worth hundreds of crores of taka in the names and anonymity of some of them. Which has come up in our previous multiple investigations. Not only that, a top engineer of the E-M department of the head office, that is, the directorate, who is trying to get transferred to the Parliament department, may also be successful. He has illegal hundreds of crores of taka in his hand. He has also planned to get transferred and commit grand theft during the rest of his service life.

The current government has declared zero tolerance against corruption. But corruption is rife in the Public Works Department, one of the most important institutions of the government. Although there has been extensive writing on this subject in the media, in reality, the corrupt have not yet been punished. Appointing talented and honest officials in the National Parliament Building and important government offices will reduce corruption and keep the offices safe.

The Speaker of the National Parliament has expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the sound system. At the same time, he is also talking about setting up the entire sound system process anew. But the question is who will tie the bell around the cat's neck? The Parliament Building and the Parliament Secretariat are under the E-M Division-7 of the Public Works Department.