Uproar over the project tender in the Directorate of Women Affairs

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Arguments and ruckus among the officials-employees regarding the tender of a new project of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs to prevent violence against women and children. This commotion took place at the Directorate of Women Affairs on Tuesday afternoon. The new project is called ‘Strengthening of Integrated Services to Remedy and Prevent Violence against Women and Children’ and ‘Quick Response Team (QRT)’.

Some of the officers-employees of the old project called ‘Women’s Torture Prevention Multisectoral Program’ claimed to Prothom Alo that Rubina Gani, the sub-project director (DPP) of the new project, was leaving the Directorate of Women’s Affairs for dishonest purposes with the tender of 10 institutions. There are no rules for withdrawing tenders.

On the other hand, DPP Rubina Gani told Prothom Alo that she was carrying the tender for the tender evaluation committee meeting. There is no rule anywhere that the tender meeting cannot be held outside. He is being harassed unnecessarily.

Incidentally, after the expiration of the multisectoral program project for the prevention of violence against women, the new project has been taken on the same model. There is anger among the officials and employees of the old project for a long time. Because, they have been informed that manpower will be taken through outsourcing in the new project. Due to this, the project officers and employees are afraid of losing their jobs.

The total workforce is 381 including 262 directly employed in the project. The project started from July 2000. The project was started as a joint initiative of the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), a government agency of Bangladesh and Denmark. The fourth phase of the project runs from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2024. Among them, after June 2022, the government reduced the cost if Danida withdrew from the project. The project is downgraded from A Grade Flagship (Critical) to B Grade. The project was continued by extending the period in stages. However, several months of salary are often arrears in the project. They have not been paid since January this year.

Under the project, there are one-stop crisis centers (OCC) in 14 medical college hospitals, 67 one-stop crisis cells (OCC cells) in district headquarters hospitals and upazila health complexes, National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory, 8 departmental DNA screening laboratories, National Trauma Counseling Center, 8 Regional Trauma Counseling Centers, National Helpline Center 109 for prevention of violence against women and children.

The QRT project is being taken on a wider scale on the model of that project. Officials of the ministry said that the finance department does not approve the outsourcing of manpower for new projects as per the Service Acceptance Policy 2025 in the process of outsourcing. As a result, recruitment of manpower in new projects will be through outsourcing.

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As a result, the officers and employees of the old project have been courting for a long time to get direct employment in the project.

Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and Social Welfare Minister Abu Zafar said about this problem of the project on April 23 at the National Care Conclave. When Zahid Hossain was asked, he told Prothom Alo that no one informed him about the project’s problems. He will talk about it after finding out.

Some officials of the old project told Prothom Alo that the minister came to the Directorate of Women’s Affairs last Sunday. Then they highlighted the problems of the project. They have applied for direct recruitment of existing manpower to new projects instead of companies in outsourcing services. Asked to pay arrears. Apart from this, under the new QRT project, ‘Inclusive Services and Opportunities for Human Capital Development and Livelihood Project (ISO)’ has been taken up in Chittagong with the support of World Bank. The old project offices in Chittagong division are being talked about giving space to the ISO project manpower. There has been dissatisfaction with this too.

The minister assured to solve all their problems. A new crisis has arisen with the tender. The tender has already been canceled twice. It was the third round of bidding. They stopped the sub-project director when he was going out with the tender. Then he said that he is going to have a meeting in the secretariat. They then went to the Director General (DG) of the Directorate of Women Affairs, Shayla Sharmin Zaman. He asked them to speak to Project Director (DP) Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain.

Meanwhile, when I called the project director Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain’s mobile phone about the situation, he did not pick up. He was later sent a message on WhatsApp asking for his comments. He sent the message ‘seen’ (seen) but did not comment.