The operation was conducted in connection with the volume of allegations logged by Desco customers on the ACC Hotline (106 from any phone registered in Bangladesh).
The ACC team’s “operation” fizzled out though, as they settled into what turned out to be a long conversation with Desco executive engineer Md Touhidul Islam, focusing mainly on long overdue, tired and obvious issues such as the need for ‘system development’.
The ACC team also witnessed an application for a new meter connection getting ‘immediately resolved’.
The question then perhaps could be raised as to whether the ACC can be kept content in silence, as long as any deviation from the process does not occur ‘in their presence’. Or will the ACC work to bring about a system that punishes deviation from due process whenever it occurs, instead of rewarding it?
ACC personnel claimed to journalists that members of the public had been reaching out to them to express satisfaction at the ACC initiative, and offering encouragement to continue in future.
The ACC team advised informing through the Hotline any irregularities coming to notice in using the Hotline.
In the second operation, an enforcement team of the coordinated district office, Patuakhali, conducted a drive at the site of the under-construction Barguna 250-bed hospital, where cracks were found on the walls in different parts of the building
The ACC decision to conduct this operation was driven by the volume of complaints logged by members of the public on its 106 hotline. Most of the complaints alleged a conspiracy by hospital authorities to procure lower quality building materials than agreed upon in original proposal
The ACC team went to the spot to review the renovation and upgrade of the hospital from a 50-bed provincial institution constantly stretched for resources, to a 250-bed Sadar Hospital, that can be expected to enjoy district-wide prominence immediately after opening.
The team talked with Executive Engineer of Barguna Public Works Department, contracted as the construction company and collected all the data related to the construction from him.
The ACC has suggested the Health Department, Barisal take charge of the building once the work is completed.