A recently enacted government policy prohibiting Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) personnel from being posted to their home districts or those of their spouses has been circumvented merely fortnight after its introduction.
In direct contradiction to the directive, an executive engineer has been transferred to her native district following formal recommendations from three cabinet ministers.
Jahanara Parveen, currently serving as Executive Engineer (Current Charge) at the LGED headquarters, was reassigned to Tangail on 16 July in the same capacity.
This transfer directly violates the restrictions formalised by the Local Government Division on 2 July, which explicitly mandated that no LGED official could be stationed in their own district or that of their spouse.
The policy was established to preserve administrative neutrality, mitigate potential conflicts of interest, and protect public servants from localised political interference.
An investigation by TIMES of Bangladesh revealed that the posting was executed following explicit recommendations from Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD) Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam, and a third minister hailing from the Tangail region.
Official documentation and National Identity Card records confirm that Parveen’s permanent residence is in Madhupur Upazila, Tangail. Furthermore, her husband, Shamsul Bari, also originates from Tangail, meaning the reassignment violates the directive on both accounts.
Their ancestral home falls within the parliamentary constituency represented by Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam.
The high-level political patronage behind the relocation of a single engineer has provoked intense scrutiny across government departments.
Addressing the controversy, LGED Chief Engineer (Current Charge) Md Belal Hossain confirmed that the transfer order was issued directly upon the instructions of the LGRD minister, Science and Technology minister and another minister from Tangail.
He explained that the LGRD minister sought to provide a female officer with the opportunity to serve as a district-level executive engineer, noting a current absence of women in such field positions.
When pressed on the policy breach, Belal acknowledged that while such postings are generally prohibited, an exception was made due to the high-level ministerial requests, stating he merely executed the command.
Efforts to obtain comment from LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam were unsuccessful, as repeated calls and texting attempts went unanswered prior to publication.
Shariful Islam, assistant private secretary to the Science and Technology Minister, said that the minister was abroad and unaware of the situation.
Tangail boasts two full cabinet ministers, the second being Liberation War Affairs Minister Ahmed Azam Khan. When approached by TIMES, Ahmed Azam denied any involvement, maintaining that he was entirely unaware of the matter and declining to comment on affairs outside his ministerial portfolio.
Jahanara Parveen also declined to comment over the telephone.
