21 dists now without DC

The government is yet to appoint deputy commissioners in 25 districts even though 13 days have gone by since the DCs from those districts were withdrawn.
The DCs are the heads of civil administration in districts. They play a pivotal role in overseeing local governance and ensuring effective delivery of public services. The DCs now have additional workload as they are in charge of zilla parishads and municipalities and also have to supervise the additional duties of UNOs, who are looking after upazila parishads. 
Additional deputy commissioners are now filling in for the DCs withdrawn from 21 districts while four DCs, who have been transferred, had to stay at their previous stations as their districts were flood affected. 
Sources said the public administration ministry cannot immediately appoint DCs to the districts as it needs time to make a list of officials fit for the job.
Preferring anonymity, a joint secretary at the Cabinet Division told The Daily Star that the interim government does not want to use the list of officials prepared by the previous government to appoint new DCs.
The official said the list made by the Hasina-led government is deemed full of officials close to the previous regime.
Usually, the government first appoints new DCs before transferring the existing ones. Sometimes, the two are done concurrently.
“However, the interim government has ordered the transfer of nearly half of the district DCs without preparing a list of replacements,” the official said.
The government on August 20 withdrew the DCs from the districts, including Dhaka, Gazipur, Chattogram, Mymensingh and Cox’s Bazar, and attached them to different ministries, directorates, and other offices.
The DCs of Chandpur, Cumilla, Noakhali, and Moulvibazar stayed at their stations because of the floods.
Following the fall of Hasina’s government on August 5, many DC and UNO offices were attacked. Some officials even had to flee their stations fearing for their lives.
Right after the interim government was formed, many DCs sought transfers while officials, who believe they were sidelined during the Awami League rule, started lobbying to become DCs.
The government then transferred 25 of them, a day after giving the DCs the additional charge of zilla parishad and municipality administrator, and the UNOs the responsibility of upazila parishads.
The government had also dissolved the governing bodies for secondary and higher secondary educational institutions, district and divisional sports councils.
As a result, the responsibility of overseeing them and forming new committees landed on the table of the DCs.
“Now that there are no lawmakers and local government representatives, we have to deal with all these while receiving threats from various quarters over the phone. It’s a lot on our plates,” said a DC who did not want to be named in fear of reprisal.
“Besides, there is a constant fear of transfer. We don’t know when our turn will come,” the official said.
Several DCs said they could not make certain decisions during “a time of transfers” as it could complicate matters for the person who would replace them. And this was harming operations of some institutions, they said.
A DC, who left their station recently, told this paper that they intentionally made a decision not to create a school governing body.
“If I had made a committee, it would have created a fresh controversy because I was dubbed loyal to the previous government,” the official said.
A DC said, “The large-scale transfer of the DCs panicked field-level officials. The fear of transfer is hindering routine work. In fact, those who were transferred are now better off.”
An official from the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner’s office said they get enquiries every day about formation of committees for educational institutions and sports organisations. However, due to the “uncertainty over transfers”, no new decisions are being made, the official said.
Asked about appointments of new DCs, Mokhlesur Rahman, senior secretary of the public administration ministry, said, “New DCs will be appointed quickly.”