Ask anybody about the shortage of power or about the water crisis of Dhaka, everyone will equivocally tell that its because of the corruption & the failure of the past governments, the ministers, the ‘Hawa Bhaban’ (the epitome of unbridled corruption during 2001-2006).But what about the beaurocratic juggernaut which is as much responsible as the different elected MPs & ministers or their conies.We as a nation are notorious for having very short memories. The names of state minister for home, state minister for power & state minister for energy & mineral resources hogged the headlines but does anybody remember the name of power secretary A.N.H Akhtar Hossain- promoted to a full secretary from the rank of a deputy secretary during the 4-party alliance rule or the names of Mr. Kamaluddin Siddique, Mr. Khandaker Shahidul Alam, Mr. Ismail Jobiullah, yes you are right they were all powerful secretaries in the 4-party rule. The magic is that no one will find any ACC(Anti-corruption Commission) cases or any cases for graft. I am sure there will be new set of names of corrupt & wealthy beaurocrats will emerge after this 14-party rule ends in four years time from now. The beauty of the beaurocrates is their ability to change the color with the change in power. They are always on top & in charge no matter which party is in power-only the name changes. The British Raj would never had thought that their brain child “Aamla Tantro” will virtually reign supreme in the land they used to control. They dictate, guide (misguide I should say) the government on their own terms. It has been reported in the media that the “din bodoler shonod” hasn’t gained any momentum in the first 100 days of the 14-party rule & the prime minister had already expressed annoyance at the slow pace of execution in different ministries. Can anyone tell me an example where any in-service ‘civil servants’ got punished or stripped of his or her job for any corruption or any offences during 1991-2009?The answer is a “big no”. There is an old saying that “shorkari chakri pawa joto kothin chakri harano tar cheye anek kothin”. To strengthen the democracy & to establish good governance, we need to re-think the roles of the civil-servants & also need to re-engineer the ways of reward & reprimand for the beaurocrats.