Secretariat officials confine Finance Adviser to office

A large group of Secretariat employees confined Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed to his office on Wednesday afternoon demanding 20% additional allowance for their duties.

Around 2:30pm, a group of 300-400 non-cadre officials and workers took position in front of the finance adviser’s office on the third floor of the Secretariat, blocking entry to and exit from the office.

By 5:30 pm, Gazi Touhidul Islam, Public Relations Officer of the Finance Ministry, told Prothom Alo that the adviser remained in his office while the demonstrators continued chanting slogans outside the Finance Division. The protest was still ongoing around 6:30 pm.

The protesters told reporters that all other groups of government employees receive allowances outside their pay-scale. However, the Secretariat employees do not get any extra pay even though they have to stay on the floor after office hours when ministers, advisers and secretaries work into the night, the protesters alleged.

In a previous protest, the employees had besieged Salehuddin Ahmed to his office at the Secretariat demanding the revival of ration system for public workers. To defuse tensions, the advisers verbally agreed to meet the demand, but never put his word into action, the protesting employees alleged on Wednesday.

Fearing a repeat of “false promises,” they are now determined to keep Salehuddin besieged at his office until the introduction of Secretariat allowance, they told reporters.