Staff Reporter :
Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam on Monday said, there is no development in issuing gazette notification on abolishing quotas in civil service as the issue was not discussed in the Cabinet meeting.
Responding to a question at a briefing after the Cabinet meeting, the cabinet secretary said, as there was a long holiday and the Prime Minister was out of the country, there were no talks on quota abolition.
Shafiul Alam said the Public Administration Ministry will form a committee to discuss the issue after a government gazette notification. He hoped that the gazette will be published soon. Monday was the last day, set by the leaders of the quota reforms movement, for publication of the gazette abolishing the quota system in government jobs.
The leaders of the quota reform movement said that they had waited for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s arrival from abroad as she assured the students that she would resolve the crisis.
But unfortunately, the government is yet to take any decision in this regard and even the issue was not discussed in the Cabinet meeting, they said.
Nurul Haque Nuru, Joint-Convener of the Quota Reforms Movement, told The New Nation that they would arrange a press briefing at 11:00am in the Modhu’s Canteen on the Dhaka University campus.
“We will announce our next course of movement from the press briefing. We want to continue our movement peacefully. We will also continue our programme until demands are met,” he said.
He said, “Out stance is very clear. And the Prime Minister realized our spirit. I hope that the government will publish a gazette reforming the quota.”
A worker of Quota Reforms Movement wishing anonymity told The New Nation that they would bring a procession just after the press briefing.
On April 27, the quota movement leaders postponed their agitation after Awami League MP Jahangir Kabir Nanak told them that the government would publish the gazette after the Prime Minister’s return from abroad.
Earlier on April 26, the quota movement leaders warned that they would resume agitation if a gazette notification was not published by April.
In the face of mass protests by students of public and private university students across the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced scrapping the quota systems in Parliament on April 11.
However, a Parliamentary Committee which later discussed the issue spoke in favour of logical reformation instead of abolishing the system altogether.
