The Bangladesh Secretariat, the country’s administrative hub, is known to be a well-guarded and secure place, but the health minister has sought police protection for his ministry to ensure security in dropping tenders. After receiving the instruction from the Health Minister, Joint Secretary of the Ministry Kulsum Begum wrote to the Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry on February 14, requesting police cover for the Health Ministry, where the tender will be dropped on Wednesday, sources in the Ministries of Home Affairs and Health said.
According to the schedule, the contract package No.GFP/LP/CC-25/15 of the Directorate General of Family Planning will be dropped at Room No-314 of the Health Ministry (Building No-3) on Wednesday, according to the letter.
Under the contract package, the Directorate General of Family Planning will procure about 2.40 lakh Lungi and Sharees for those undergoing operations of vasectomy and legations, with a view to encourage people to adopt family planning measures, Health Ministry sources said.   
“As per the decision of the Health Ministry, the contractors will drop tender package No.GFP/LP/CC-25/15 of the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) at the Health Ministry’s room No-314 and the tender would be opened and sent to the DGFP headquarters located in the city’s Karwanbazar at the same day with police security,” the letter added. After receiving the letter, the Home Ministry ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner by sending letters, signed by Deputy Secretary Zahid Hossain Munshi of the Home Ministry to provide required police force in this regard, the sources confirmed. Health Minister Mohammad Nasim told The Independent that he asked his ministry’s official to take steps to submit an open tender at the Health Ministry instead of the DGFP to avoid any problems. “We asked the authorities concerned to take help of the police force so that the process of tender submission could be completed without any barrier,” he said. Mohammad Nasim informed that they are planning to go for e-tendering system soon to avoid any hassles. There have been cases where, a section of people, were reportedly influencing highly-placed officials to award them tenders, along with cases of tender boxes being snatched during dropping schedules.