“As there’re rewards for officials for good works, there should be punishment for unlawful tasks. These officials have been punished for violating the laws,” State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB in an interview.

He further said the government will not allow corruption at any level as per the Prime Minister’s ‘zero-tolerance’ stance against it. “If we want to provide better services to people, it’s a must to establish discipline in the administration,” he added.

The current government has enhanced the salary of government employees by more than 120 percent. No previous government had been able to do so. It’s a rare instance,” the state minister told UNB.

It is the responsibility of the MoPA to implement the decisions taken by the government and it is working to this end, he said.

Farhad Hossain went on saying, “To provide better services to public, we’ve taken necessary measures, including infrastructure development, creation of posts, more employment and better transportation facilities.”

He said the government’s goal is to determine how to stop corruption and irregularities. “We’ll adopt techniques to stop graft when necessary. However, we won’t take much time. We’ll take steps within a short time and work to stop corruption and ensure good governance.”

About irregularities in the transfer and promotion process of the government officials, the state minister said efficiency should determine posting and promotion rather than political connection. “We want to place right man at the right place. For this, we’ll give priority to skills and talents,” he said.

He also said training courses for the government officials abroad need to be more advanced in quality. “Many officers are getting trained abroad. We’ll be looking into whether they’re being evaluated according to their merit or not,” Farhad Hossain said.