passport department corruption

DIP trashes TIB report

Plans to introduce e-passport in 8 months

The director general of the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP), Brigadier General (Retd) Md Masud Rezwan, has rejected the survey report of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) which alleged that DIP is the most corrupt service sector in the country. “The report is motivated and baseless, and has been compiled without a proper survey. TIB has no right to malign a government organisation by making such a report public,” he told a press conference at his office yesterday (Thursday).
“We have issued 1.45 crore machine readable passports (MRPs) so far. TIB should have conducted a survey among a minimum of 1 per cent of these people. Instead, it has spoken to only 480 people,” he claimed. Rezwan urged the TIB authorities to conduct a fresh survey about the passport department within the shortest possible time and publish the report within the current year.
Answering a question, Rezwan said he would request the home minister to take legal action against TIB for its baseless report published at a press conference on June 30.
He, however, admitted that some employees at the passport office were involved in corruption and that is why 36 of them had been dismissed so far.
"In all, 277 agents (dalal) were arrested by law enforcement agencies from in and around the passport office. Some of them have been released from jail on bail and are back in their old profession,” he said. “We will set up two more passport offices in the city --- one at Gabtali and the other in the Bashabu area so that people can get MRPs without any hassle,” he added.
He further said they will send a proposal to the home ministry to issue MRPs without police verification if the authorities could introduce NID smartcard.

 

passport department corruption

DIP trashes TIB report

Plans to introduce e-passport in 8 months

The director general of the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP), Brigadier General (Retd) Md Masud Rezwan, has rejected the survey report of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) which alleged that DIP is the most corrupt service sector in the country. The report is motivated and baseless, and has been compiled without a proper survey. TIB has no right to malign a government organisation by making such a report public, he told a press conference at his office yesterday (Thursday). We have issued 1.45 crore machine readable passports (MRPs) so far. TIB should have conducted a survey among a minimum of 1 per cent of these people. Instead, it has spoken to only 480 people, he claimed. Rezwan urged the TIB authorities to conduct a fresh survey about the passport department within the shortest possible time and publish the report within the current year. Answering a question, Rezwan said he would request the home minister to take legal action against TIB for its baseless report published at a press conference on June 30. He, however, admitted that some employees at the passport office were involved in corruption and that is why 36 of them had been dismissed so far. In all, 277 agents (dalal) were arrested by law enforcement agencies from in and around the passport office. Some of them have been released from jail on bail and are back in their old profession, he said. We will set up two more passport offices in the city --- one at Gabtali and the other in the Bashabu area so that people can get MRPs without any hassle, he added. He further said they will send a proposal to the home ministry to issue MRPs without police verification if the authorities could introduce NID smartcard.