The government has decided to swiftly implement a set of urgent reform proposals put forward by the Administrative Reform Commission to advance public service delivery under the interim administration formed in the wake of the student-worker-people uprising, according to the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
On June 16, a high-level meeting was held at the Office of the Chief Adviser, chaired by Principal Secretary M Siraj Uddin Mia, focusing on 18 actionable proposals by the commission.
It was informed that out of six key commissions, five have submitted a total of 121 immediate reform proposals to the Cabinet Division.
These include nine proposals from the Election Reform Commission, 38 from the Judiciary Reform Commission, 43 from the Anti-Corruption Reform Commission, 13 from the Police Reform Commission, and 18 from the Administrative Reform Commission.
Among the 18 administrative reform suggestions, eight were identified as easily implementable and received detailed discussion. These include:
Sanitary toilets at fuel stations: The Energy and Mineral Resources Division will set a July 20 deadline after discussions with fuel pump owners to ensure gender-sensitive sanitation facilities nationwide.
Dynamic websites for ministries: The ICT Division will coordinate with all ministries within a week to ensure updated content and options for citizen feedback.
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Managing committees in schools and colleges: The Education Ministry will finalize and implement a policy within a month to include government officials in managing committees.
Community health centers through NGOs: The Health Services Division will meet stakeholders within a week to devise operational strategies.
Regular public hearings: The Cabinet Division will work with service-delivery ministries to ensure periodic public hearings.
Legal reforms: The Cabinet Division will create a timeline to review the Official Secrets Act (1923), while the Information Ministry will do the same for the Right to Information Act (2009).
Reforming BBS: The Statistics Division will develop a plan to transform the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics into a 'Statistics Commission' with World Bank support.
Digital governance: The ICT Division will bring all public services under a unified citizen platform and complete national data interoperability within two months.
Each ministry will form its own implementation team and submit a timeline to both the Cabinet Division and the Chief Adviser’s Office within one month. A monitoring team under the Governance Innovation Unit (GIU) will provide support and ensure progress tracking.
It was also noted that all 54 ministries have already initiated 1,061 reform and development actions over recent months. The government plans to hold similar meetings regularly to advance further reforms.