Atomic Energy Commission calls for full autonomy

Making allegations of 'unwarranted interference' and 'authoritarian behaviour' of the concerned ministry, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) scientists and officials have called for restoring full autonomy of their organisation.

They made the demand at a press conference held at its headquarters, following a sit-in the city's Shere Bangla Nagar area.

To press home their demand, three platforms of the BAEC officials would hold sit-in programs on Wednesday and Thursday across all offices under the BAEC.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr ASM Saifullah, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Scientists Association (BAESA) president, said they had to come up with the demand in the wake of prevailing discriminatory behaviour against them for a long period.

"We are here to protest the ongoing unwarranted interference by the ministry and its authoritarian behaviour that have undermined the commission's autonomy," he said.

The BAEC, which comprises 40 institutes across the country, employs about 2,500 people, including 600 scientists, from diverse fields such as physics, biology, medical sciences, engineering, and geology.

The BAEC itself could issue necessary government orders (GOs) for higher education and training for the officials abroad until 2011. Such authority was transferred to the ministry leading to systematic deprivation of these opportunities for scientists, said Mr Saifullah.

"Despite having full scholarships, bureaucratic delays and unjust denials of GOs are preventing young scientists from pursuing education and training abroad," he said.

The BAEC officials at the conference presented a list of ministry officials who have already visited or would go abroad in the recent months to join different technical training programs bypassing the scientists.

The BAEC scientists were excluded from Grade-1 and Grade-2 of the pay scale due to ministerial interference, he said adding that positions of officers at different level has also been downgraded.

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