Published: 07:01 AM, 27 May 2025
Demonstrators blockade Secretariat declining new law
Hundreds of employees belonging to different ministries yell out furious slogans in front of the Secretariat on Monday protesting an amendment to an act on government jobs. -Collected
An enormous number of government employees on Monday (26 May 2025) for a certain period of time locked the main gate of Bangladesh Secretariat, the heart of the country's administration, in capital Dhaka city, yelling out their protests against the Public Service Amendment Act which allows easier dismissal of government officials on proven charges of professional misdemeanor.
According to eyewitnesses and media reports, officials and employees of the Secretariat locked the main gate on the third day of their protest against the Public Service Act amendment.
The agitating employees gathered near the main entrance around 12:30 pm. During that time, the gate was closed. It was reopened about half an hour later, around 1:00 pm. The protesting employees moved from the gate and gathered in a scattered way across the secretariat premises. "The gate was reopened after half an hour," some satellite channels reported.
According to the latest developments on this confrontation, official activities inside the Secretariat were largely halted as the employees restrained everyone from doing their jobs.
The protests started after Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his cabinet colleagues published the revised version of the law on government jobs, allowing easier dismissal of officials for breaching statutory rules.
According to the latest developments on this confrontation, official activities inside the Secretariat were largely halted as the employees restrained everyone from doing their jobs.
The protests started after Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his cabinet colleagues published the revised version of the law on government jobs, allowing easier dismissal of officials for breaching statutory rules.
The government employees threatened to continue their protests until the ordinance was scrapped. The authorities deployed extra police personnel to prevent any possible violence at the Secretariat and surrounding places.
Meanwhile, the protest by employees of the Dhaka South City Corporation, demanding the installation of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Ishraque Hossain as its mayor in line with a court order, has brought administrative services to a stoppage.
The Election Commission preferred not to oppose the verdict, but the interim government on Monday challenged the ruling in the High Court to debar Ishraq Hossain's swearing-in and allow an administrator it appointed to carry the mayor's duties.
The apex trade body Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and other business assemblages on Sunday addressed a press conference to review the alarming situation in the business arena.
A prominent business community leader Shawkat Aziz Russell told journalists that businessmen were being murdered just like the intellectuals in the 1971 Liberation War. He warned of a famine-like situation as more people become jobless in Bangladesh.
