Bifurcation of home ministry finalised
One senior secy and one state minister may
be posted soon
DEEPAK ACHARJEE
The government has finally bifurcated the home ministry into two divisionsthe Public Security Division and Security Service Division. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the proposal to bifurcate the home ministry yesterday. The Cabinet Division was asked to issue a gazette notification in this respect within a day or two, said sources in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the Cabinet Division.
According to the proposal, the police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Ansar and village defence parties (VDPs), Bangladesh Coast Guard, International Crimes Tribunal(s) and National Telecommunications and Monitoring Centre (NTMC) would operate under the Public Security Division.
The Directorate of Immigration and Passports, Fire Services and Civil Defence and the Department of Narcotics Control will come under the Security Service Division.
According to the ministrys organogramme, a total of 460 posts260 for the Security Service Division and 200 for the Public Security Divisionhave been created, the sources added.
Cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told The Independent that a notification will be issued in this regard after approval is obtained from the President.
The Cabinet Division recently approved the Allocation of Business and the organogramme of the home ministry. Talking to The Independent, a high-ranking official of the PMO disclosed that a senior secretary would be posted to the newly split Public Security Division and the existing secretary of the home ministry would be posted as the secretary of the Security Service Division. The public administration ministry will post the two secretaries for the newly bifurcated divisions of the home ministry by issuing a gazette notification within this week. The official also disclosed that the government has made plans to appoint a state minister for the ministry of home affairs. A minister is currently running the ministry.
A room on the first floor of the home ministry is being prepared for the senior secretary of the proposed Public Security Division. During the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the home ministry last year, she instructed the authorities to split the home ministry into two divisions as part of ongoing reforms and to speed up the civil administration. The ministry has eight large departmentsBangladesh police, BGB, Department of Narcotics and Control, Department of Immigration and Passports, Bangladesh Coast Guard, Ansar and VDP, Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence and Department of Prisons. That is why the ministrys activities would be split into two separate divisions to make completion of regular tasks smoother and easier. In neighbouring India, there are three divisionsborder, administration and interiorunder the home ministry, and these have separate secretaries. At present, there are 257 posts in the home ministry, including those of senior secretary, five additional secretaries, 11 joint secretaries and 20 deputy secretaries.
The ministrys work is to ensure security for life and property, maintain law and order, conduct rescue operations, investigate criminal cases, combat criminals, crimes and militancy, ensure humane treatment to prisoners, protect the border and coastal belt, check smuggling, formulate immigration- and emigration-related policies, and combat trafficking in humans and drugs. The home ministry was first set up in 1971 with the formation of the government-in-exile during the Liberation War. It started operating from the Bangladesh Secretariat after the Pakistani occupation forces were defeated on December 16, 1971.
