Three-day DC conf'ce begins today

A three-day conference of deputy commissioners (DCs) of all 64 districts begins in the city today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the programme at the Prime Minister's Office at 9:30am where the divisional commissioners from all eight divisions will also attend. She is expected to give directives to the administrative chiefs of the districts on various issues, policies and measures taken by the government.

The PM will also give instructions about the development initiatives and highlight the government's success stories, cabinet division officials said.

The rest of the conference will be held at the Secretariat where separate sessions for each ministry will take place.

On the first day, sessions of 19 ministries and divisions, including education, disaster management and relief, power and energy, finance, planning and information will take place.

During the conference, the DCs will raise various issues of their respective districts and place recommendations.

According to a draft working paper of the conference, some divisional commissioners proposed to upgrade their post to first-grade (equivalent to secretary) and construct administrative convention centres in each district.

In his proposal sent to the cabinet division, the DC of Narayanganj suggested giving the civil bureaucrats the scope for working at UN peace keeping missions.

The DC of Kishoreganj proposed fixing minimum educational qualification for the president and members of the governing bodies of schools, colleges and madrasas.

The DC of Natore proposed to reschedule the license fees of jewellery and cloth traders while the divisional commissioner of Barisal proposed to introduce vocational education in the curriculum at secondary and higher secondary schools and madrasas to create skilled labour.

Some DCs proposed bringing the village police under a rationing system similar to the one for the police and a salary hike along with provision of bicycles and mobile sets for them.

Rajbari's DC recommended allocating Tk 10,000 for the burial of each freedom fighter.

To prevent the influx of drugs and stop smuggling, the DC of Feni proposed strengthening border patrol while the divisional commissioner of Rajshahi suggested constructing ring roads and installing lights to ensure security in areas along the border.