A monument to systemic negligence
It is disheartening that Chattogram's Modern Food Testing Laboratory—a Tk 34.4 crore undertaking funded by the Asian Development Bank—has remained non-operational despite its completion in 2015. The facility, intended to enhance food safety in Chattogram, began trial testing in January 2016. However, according to a report by this daily, the lack of a signing authority has rendered its results useless, as no official certifications of food safety can be made. This is a glaring testament to the systemic negligence and inefficiency that so often stymie the functionality of specialised government facilities.
The laboratory, divided into two sections, is equipped to test a wide range of food items including milk, meat, vegetables, edible oil, etc. It's a pity that such an important and expensively built facility would sit idle year after year just because no one in the administration cared to provide the support necessary to make it fully operational. Normally, the first order of business in any such undertaking would be appointing an appropriate signing authority, since no actionable steps can be taken without one regardless of how dire the findings. The second priority would be having adequate and properly motivated manpower to tell us whether the food we consume is safe or not. Reportedly, out of the 24 officials initially appointed in the laboratory, only seven remain due to concerns over job security, as their jobs haven't been regularised.
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The question is, why would these basic issues remain unresolved even after nine years, and despite receiving operational approval in as far back as 2016? Unfortunately, we have seen too many cases of facilities and initiatives languishing after project completion to consider the Chattogram case as an isolated one. In fact, the government has a rather unenviable reputation when it comes to operationalising such public-interest initiatives. It is as if public officials lose interest once all the funds that go into building the infrastructure have been spent. Among the issues that new facilities usually suffer from are staff shortages, lack of equipment, lack of power supply, coordination issues among the relevant institutions, etc.—all of which can be attributed to bureaucratic mismanagement. The gap between the completion of projects and their actual operationalisation can be overwhelming.
This is nothing but a waste of money and a betrayal of public trust. We, therefore, urge the government to remove all barriers to the seamless operation of the food testing laboratory in Chattogram so that it can serve its intended purpose. As well as the problems mentioned above, another issue complicating its operation is that the Chattogram City Corporation has yet to assume control of the lab from its current private operator, despite this transition being scheduled post-2021. This should be urgently addressed, too.
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