It goes without shadow of doubt to believe that the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is not in a good shape due to lack of qualified and experienced officials.
Several top positions of the national flag carrier have been held by not up to the mark department’s officials, raising questions about the efficient running of the airliner.
There are eight top (director) positions in Biman, and earlier these positions were held by such persons who did not have any experience in the aviation industry. In the meantime, a director has lost his job, as an allegation of irregularities has been proved against him.
Even in some cases, the director-general of the organization is discharging the duties of some directors as a good number of posts of director remained vacant for long. Under such situation, the national flag carrier is bereft of serving the nation in a way it is supposed to do.
Since the inception of the airlines, it was being operated as per the rules and regulations of the organisation. However, in recent times, frequent allegations against its officials and workers, questioned the activities of the airliner. On the other hand, due to the shortage of skilled and experienced people, an individual is taking care of several positions.
According to Biman’s information, from April 2014 to January 2015, Mossadeq Ahmed acted as the Managing Director and CEO. He was again appointed to the same position in June 2016. He remained in the position till April this year. But again he was removed on a charge of corruption.
Biman information showed, to fill up the vacant post of MD and CEO, it issued a circular on March 12. Among 70 applicants, including 12 foreigners, the board was unable to find any suitable person. Instead, they proposed the name of the concern ministry’s additional secretary Mokabbir Hossain on September 3. Finally, he joined as MD on September 12.
A highly placed source of Biman said, despite having no working experience in the airlines, this year Air Commodore (retd) Md. Mahbub Jahan Khan and Group Captain (retd) Khandaker Sajjad Rahim were appointed as directors. But Sajjad has been removed for his irregularities.
Biman’s top eight positions are; Administration, Marketing and Sales, Customer Care, Planning, Finance, Flight Operation, Engineering and Material Management, and Procurement and Logistic Support Department.
Several director-general and directors said Biman is unable to speed up its activities as the same person is holding several positions. They said when a person conducts a meeting of a certain department, other departments' works are facing a thaw. They also opined that serving in several positions by an individual creates an opportunity for corruption and irregularities.
The ministry’s secretary Md Muhibul Haque said, “Some positions of directors are lying vacant. At present there are no such officials who can fill up those positions as they lack experience. Due to the absence of timely recruitment and promotion a chaotic situation has arisen”.
“A circular was issued against vacant positions, but as we did not get any suitable persons these posts remained vacant. We are now trying to give regular promotion at each level on time. We hope to find suitable persons from the existing officers within 5-6 months to get them promoted,” he said.
