Wasa ‘personal property’ of Taqsem
Dhaka Wasa board Chairman Gholam Mostofa has said the orgnisation has become a "personal property" of its managing director, Taqsem A Khan.
"No other government organisation is run like the way the Wasa is being operated by the MD. He runs the agency at will, showing disregard for the organisational rules, government regulations and the board's opinions. He pays no heed to anyone's opinion," Mostofa said in an interview with The Daily Star yesterday.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The chairman sent a letter to the LGRD ministry on Wednesday, detailing his complaints against the MD. He accused the MD of running the organisation autocratically.
Mostofa said he sent the letter after failing to resolve the longstanding disputes between Taqsem and the Wasa board of directors.
He said the board members tried to convince Taqsem of following the Wasa rules and showing respect for the board's jurisdiction, but the MD didn't heed their advice.
Criticising Taqsem's role in the board meetings, Mostofa said, "He does everything at will. It seems that he sits in board meetings to implement his agendas."
According to the Wasa law, the board should convene at least once in every two months. But the board didn't hold any meeting since March 15 due to the unwillingness of Taqsem, the chairman added.
Mostafa accused Taqsem of presenting budgets before the board unilaterally without having opinions from the board members beforehand. Whenever the board raised concerns or questions over different issues, Taqsem would dismiss those concerns and ask them to focus on the bigger pictures of the issues.
He said Taqsem made decisions on major purchases involving hundreds of crores of taka without the board's approval.
The chairman said they tried to set a limit for the MD's spending but faced resistance from him.
Taqsem also prevented the board of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority from holding meetings whenever he was on leave or didn't have any agenda, Mostafa added.
He said the Wasa board should be the apex governing body of the organisation and the MD should place his agendas before the board to ensure transparency and accountability.
Taqsem's activities undermined the board's authority and obstructed its members from carrying out their responsibilities.
The chairman alleged that Taqsem's activities undermined the board's authority and obstructed its members from carrying out their responsibilities.
He said the MD violated the government regulations by approving all budgets himself.
"A board meeting cannot be held without the assistance of some officials concerned. However, those officials are loyal to Taqsem A Khan. The acting board secretary was also appointed by the MD. The government made such appointments previously."
The Wasa law stipulates that its secretary should have at least seven year's experience as a deputy secretary or as an official of that equivalent rank. However, Taqsem appointed an engineer as the acting secretary who didn't meet the appointment criteria, Mostafa said.
He said the Wasa board requested Taqsem to hire additional manpower for it, but he informed the board that new recruitment would be made once the organisation would have a new organogram.
In the letter sent to the ministry on Wednesday, Mostafa said that there is a lack of discipline in the Wasa.
The chairman said many Wasa staffers do not follow the office timing. A deputy managing director (human resources) tried to introduce a biometric attendance system, but Taqsem opposed the move, he added.
He said that the MD violated promotion rules and made unilateral decisions on many promotions and transfers.
Mostafa stressed the need for setting up a separate office for the Wasa board.
"We [board members] have come from different organisations. We are not doing full-time jobs. But Taqsem A Khan sent a letter to the LGRD ministry without mentioning the name of the sender, complaining that I go to the office regularly. He also claimed that I held meetings with some officials and CBA leaders and gave them directives. Enquired by the ministry, I wrote a letter to it."
Asked about complaints lodged with the ministry against him, the chairman said those who wrote against him did so under pressure.
"The leaders of the organisations, which sent letters to the ministry, were not elected fairly. Elections to those platforms have not been conducted fairly since 2019. The presidents and secretaries of those organisations were selected by the MD himself," he said.
Mostafa said the MD divided the Wasa CBA into two factions and refused to allow the leaders of one of them to carry out their activities even though they had a court order in favour of their operations.
Asked about his expectations, Mostafa said they want the LGRD ministry to engage in discussions with the Wasa board and take necessary measures to address the problems in the organisation.
This correspondent could not reach Taqsem for comments as he did not respond to calls and texts yesterday.
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