Staff Correspondent
Around 1000 ex-Biman officials, who lost their jobs under a voluntary retirement scheme in 2007, staged demonstration at the national airlines’ headquarters, Balaka, in Dhaka Saturday for getting back their jobs.
The aggrieved officials submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the board of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, demanding reinstatement of their jobs, said official sources.
The demonstrators claimed they were forced to resign under the scheme.
‘We have submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the Biman’s board of directors, urging the authorities for reinstating those who were forced to retire under the VRS,’ said Zahirul Haque, a leader of the demonstrators, at Balaka.
Earlier in 2008, over 500 such officials of Biman appealed to the civil aviation and tourism ministry during the tenure of the interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed for the jobs. They complained that the scheme was misused to force the ‘honest and efficient people and shield the corrupt ones from legal actions’.
The aggrieved officials claimed in writing to the ministry that they were forced to resign under the scheme.
The civil aviation ministry in January 2008 formed a committee to investigate the allegations.
The probe body found irregularities in the retirement process. Later, over 100 aggrieved officials also filed writ petitions with the High Court, challenging the legality of the scheme.
The Biman authorities, in a move to restructure the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines, had offered the VRS in June 2007 to reduce its manpower to around 3,000 from the approved 6,800 in Biman’s organogram.
A total of 1,876 officials and employees of the now defunct Bangladesh Biman Corporation resigned under the scheme.
The probe body found the job cut move reasonable, but questioned the process followed in implementing the scheme.
It suggested that efficient and honest officials and employees should be reinstated in jobs to help the state-owned airline see a turnaround.
Biman, which has always been a losing concern due to corruption and mismanagement, started its journey as a public limited company on July 31, 2007 with hundred per cent share in government’s hands.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
