Staff Correspondent

Labour and Employment Adviser Brigadier General (Retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hossain has said that while the term "employment" exists in the title of the Labour and Employment Ministry, and there has been no real initiative in that area.

“In the Labour and Employment Ministry, the word ‘employment’ exists only on paper—there is no actual work being done on it,” he said while speaking at a seminar titled ‘365 Days of the Interim Government’, organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Recounting his own experience, the adviser said, “When I tried to work on employment generation after taking office, I came face to face with the harsh reality of bureaucratic complications. Efforts to make the ministry's employment-related activities more practical were blocked by red tape.”

Criticising the bureaucracy, he said, “To get anything done, you have to send someone along with a file just to ensure it moves. At this pace, it’s impossible to get anything done in a year.”

Expressing frustration over the past year, he revealed that his ministry was changed four times during his tenure as adviser, leaving many tasks incomplete each time.

Referring to his time at the Ministry of Home Affairs after the July mass uprising, Sakhawat said he had to spend days meeting with police officers to bring them back to duty. “The police force still lacks capability, and no structural reforms have been made.”

About challenges in the Labour and Employment Ministry, he said the collapse of a major company like Beximco, which employed 38,000 workers, posed a significant challenge.

He highlighted the issue of runaway business owners. “One company alone took Tk 48,000 crore in loans from 16 banks-Tk 24,000 crore from Janata Bank alone. No other country has seen such a precedent, where someone takes this much from a state-owned bank and disappears.” 

On the visit of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Sakhawat explained, “When ILO visits a country concerning workers' rights, it signals a major threat to that country's export market. We had to take their proposals seriously. A single wrong move could have collapsed the entire market. There was no room for arrogance.”

Speaking on the condition of tea garden workers, he said, “Despite all the talks of major development in the country, not a single step has been taken for the welfare of tea garden workers. There are no toilets for women workers, many suffer from cervical cancer and there isn’t even a single tube well for drinking water in large tea estates.”

“Having metro rails and elevated expressways doesn’t automatically mean the country is progressing. Real development happens when the benefits are distributed across all sections,” the adviser added.

On whether the government has failed over the past year, Sakhawat said, “If the government has failed, the blame lies with others as well. Many who were expected to cooperate chose to remain inactive. Yet, our doors were open to all.”

He also defended the government’s tolerance of criticism.

“Everyone has the right to criticize the government. In the past, labour leaders were abducted, killed, or jailed for speaking against the government or employers. We have released 41 imprisoned labour leaders. Now, people are freely speaking, and the government is taking it all in,” he pointed out.