Officials of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) are optimistic about getting a positive response from today’s meeting of the bank’s board of governors, believing that their grievances will be addressed in the Eighth National Pay Scale. They pointed out that when they put off their protest movement on January 11, BB governor Dr Atiur Rahman sent a demi-official (DO) letter to the finance ministry, which has taken into consideration two of their three demands. “So far, the government has taken into account two demands—defining Bangladesh Bank as the separate regulatory authority in the gazette of the Eighth Pay Scale, and upgrading the post of assistant director to Grade VIII from Grade IX,” said the general secretary of the Bangladesh Bank Officers’ Welfare Council, Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui.
Regarding their third demand—upgrading the post of executive director to Grade I—he said, “We still have not received any direct hint about this. But we hope to get a positive result about that as well.”  Siddiqui added, “All three demands will be discussed at the board meeting today, where the secretaries of the National Board of Revenue, the Finance Division and the Banking Division, including the governor, will be present.” “We are optimistic that the meeting will result in a positive result, and help towards fulfilling our demands and urging the government to take the next steps,” he said. Regarding their movement, Siddiqui said, “Nothing can be said about it right now. Everything depends on the outcome of the meeting of the board of governors. We have a general meeting of the council. We will decide on the next step after getting the results of today’s meeting.” BB officials on January 11 put off their protests until January 24, after the central bank’s governor assured them that the “discrimination” in the new pay scale would be addressed. Alleging that they had been neglected both socially and economically in the new pay scale, the officials had undertaken various kinds of agitation, including a sit-in, a rally and a pen-down protest since January 7. Later, they set the deadline of January 14 for the government to resolve the issue. But on January 11, the BB governor assured them that their problems would be discussed at today’s board meeting.