Secretariat staff call off sit-in after assurance of government order on allowance

Protesters block Finance Advisor Salehuddin in his office for six hours

Employees have withdrawn their sit-in after receiving assurances from the finance advisor that a government order (GO) will be issued to introduce a “Secretariat allowance”.

They ended their protest around 8:30pm on Wednesday, after blocking Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed inside his office for six hours on the fourth floor of the Finance Division.

Badiul Kabir, president of Bangladesh Secretariat Officers-Employees Joint Council, said: “We have been assured that the GO will be issued tomorrow. We have withdrawn the protest.”

Staff from all ministries and divisions working inside the Secretariat began demonstrating after 2:30pm, gathering outside the advisor’s office to press for a 20 percent Secretariat allowance for all employees. The advisor was confined inside during the protests.

Deputy Commissioner Zahidul Islam of the Secretariat Security Division told bdnews24.com, “They came to meet the advisor with their demand for the allowance and are staging a sit-in there.”

The advisor later held a meeting in his office with the finance secretary and other officials, while the protest continued outside.

Several hundred non-cadre staff from different ministries joined the demonstration.

One personal officer to a secretary said, “When advisors, ministers and secretaries stay late at the office, we also have to stay. Staff at different departments receive different benefits beyond the payscale, but we are excluded. That is why we are demanding a 20 percent Secretariat allowance.”

Badiul said various government agencies provide risk allowances, adding that the Secretariat is a KPI-designated zone where officials and staff often face risks.

“That is why they need a risk allowance. The president and the prime minister’s offices have allowances, but Secretariat employees have nothing, not even rations. Anti-Corruption Commission and Department of Narcotics Control staff who are in civil service positions also receive rations. We have been demanding these facilities for a long time, but nothing has been given,” he said.

Highlighting that the ninth national pay scale, scheduled for 2020, has not been implemented as 2025 ends, he added: “Our movement is for the announcement and gazette notification of the ninth national pay scale.”