DHAKA, June 20, 2025 (BSS) - A meeting was held at the Chief Adviser's Office here on June 16, 2025 to quickly implement the immediately implementable recommendations made by the Public Administration Reform Commission. 

M Siraz Uddin Miah, Principal Secretary to the Chief Adviser, presided over the meeting, said a press release issued by the Chief Adviser's Press Wing today.

It was informed in the meeting that the interim government, formed through a student-people uprising, constituted many commissions, including six main reform commissions, and the commissions submitted reform proposals to the government on various issues so that the aspirations of the people could be fulfilled.

Among these proposals, the National Consensus Commission is working under the leadership of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus to reach a consensus on the constitution-related and major reforms. 

However, the Chief Adviser has directed to quickly implement all the reform proposals that the administrative ministry can implement on its own initiative.

In view of this, the Cabinet Division has sent a letter in this regard to various ministries/divisions on May 25, 2025.

It was informed in the meeting that a total of 121 proposals of the five reform commissions, which are immediately implementable, have been received for implementation through the Cabinet Division. 

Out of those, nine proposals of the Electoral System Reform Commission, 38 proposals of Judiciary Reform Commission, 43 proposals of the Anti-Corruption Reform Commission, 13 proposals of the Police Reform Commission and 18 proposals of the Public Administration Reform Commission have been selected as immediately implementable.

The main topic of discussion of the meeting held at the CAO on June 16 was the 18 proposals of the Public Administration Reform Commission.

Out of these 18 proposals, eight relatively easy-to-implement proposals were discussed in detail in the meeting.

These are: (1) Regarding hygienic toilets at highway petrol pumps, (2) Making the ministry's website dynamic, (3) Formation of managing committees for colleges and secondary schools, (4) Operation of community health centres, (5) Public hearings, (6) Right to Information Act, (7) Reorganisation of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and (8) Digital transformation and e-services.

Based on the discussion, the following decisions were taken:

1. Ensuring hygienic toilet facilities at highway petrol pumps:

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division may hold a meeting with the Petrol Pump and CNG Owners Association to exchange views on the establishment of separate hygienic toilets for men and women and set a deadline for the establishment of hygienic toilets at all petrol and CNG pumps in the country by 20 July 2025.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division will issue instructions in this regard and request the district administration to supervise the implementation. 

The Cabinet Division will also issue instructions to the Deputy Commissioners in this regard. The district administration will regularly inspect and inform the Cabinet Division and the CAO.

2. Making the ministry's website dynamic:

The Information and Communication Technology Division will hold a meeting with all the ministries within a week to decide on the steps to be taken to upload updated information on the website and have the option to provide feedback to citizens.

The work of national data governance interoperability will be completed within the next two months.

3. Formation of managing committees of colleges and secondary schools with the participation of government officials:

The Secondary and Higher Education Division will send the policy regarding the formation of the managing committee to the Ministry of Public Administration within two days.

The Ministry of Public Administration will complete the vetting within five working days and send it back and the Secondary and Higher Education Division will issue it within five working days.

The work of restructuring the managing committees of colleges and secondary schools must be completed within one month of the issuance of the policy.

4. Community Health Centre Management through Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs):

The Health Services Division will hold a meeting with the concerned non-governmental organisations, including the NGO Affairs Bureau, within a week to determine the strategy for community health management.

5. Ensuring public hearings at fixed intervals in all government offices:

The Cabinet Division will hold a meeting with all service-providing ministries/divisions within a week to determine the strategy for public hearings.

6. Review and Amendment of the Right to Information Act-2009 and the Official Secrets Act, 1923:

The Cabinet Division will take a time-bound action plan for the review and amendment of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will adopt a time-bound action plan for the review and amendment of the Right to Information Act-2009.

7. Turning Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) into 'Bangladesh Statistical Commission':

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics should be restructured by coordinating the recommendations of the commission with the ongoing reform activities with the assistance of the World Bank. 

The Statistics and Information Management Division will take a time-bound action plan to this end.

8. Completing digital transformation and strengthening e-government and e-service systems:

The Information and Communication Technology Division will adopt and implement a time-bound action plan to include all government services in the citizen platform implemented by the interim government.

The national data governance interoperability system must be implemented quickly.

Within the next one month, all ministries/divisions will inform the Cabinet Division and the CAO of their time-bound action plans.

The Principal Secretary in his speech mentioned that each ministry/division will form its own implementation team and take time-bound activities.

There will be a monitoring team under the Governance Innovation Unit (GIU) under the supervision of the Secretary of the CAO, which will maintain round-the-clock communication with the ministries and provide necessary support. 

In addition, the Cabinet Division will also monitor the implementation of these reform activities.

Such meetings will be organised regularly to take forward other reform activities in phases.

Besides, in the past months, each ministry of the government has taken many small and large reform initiatives. A total of 1,061 reform and development-related steps have been taken in 54 ministries, the press release said.