409 Public Works Department Engineers Transferred Through Lottery

A total of 409 engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD) have been transferred and posted through a lottery system as part of an effort to ensure transparency and impartiality in the government agency's transfer process.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, the transfers were carried out on Sunday (August 16) at the conference room of the PWD headquarters in Segunbagicha, Dhaka.

The lottery determined the postings of 152 assistant engineers (civil) and 67 assistant engineers (electrical/mechanical). On the same day, 135 sub-divisional engineers (civil) and 55 sub-divisional engineers (electrical/mechanical) were also transferred.

Regional distribution of assistant engineers

Through the lottery, a total of 219 assistant engineers were transferred or posted across the country's eight administrative divisions:

• Dhaka: 100
• Rajshahi: 20
• Chattogram: 34
• Khulna: 20
• Barishal: 12
• Sylhet: 7
• Mymensingh: 9
• Rangpur: 17

Regional distribution of sub-divisional engineers

A total of 190 sub-divisional engineers were transferred or posted as follows:

• Dhaka: 79
• Rajshahi: 18
• Chattogram: 32
• Khulna: 20
• Barishal: 10
• Sylhet: 9
• Mymensingh: 7
• Rangpur: 15

The ministry said the lottery system was used to promote transparency, neutrality and discipline in the transfer and posting process.

Among those present during the lottery were Housing and Public Works Ministry Additional Secretary Md Sarwar Alam; PWD Additional Chief Engineers Kazi Md Firoz Hasan, Md Abul Khair and Ashraful Haque; supervising engineers Muhammad Sarwar Jahan and Swapan Chakma; Deputy Secretaries Khan Md Nazmus Shoeb and Md Abu Naser, along with other officials and engineers.

The latest exercise follows two earlier rounds of transfers conducted through lotteries. On July 30, the PWD transferred 767 sub-assistant engineers (civil) through a lottery. Another 254 sub-assistant engineers (electrical/mechanical) were transferred on August 3.

The use of a lottery-based system marks an effort to make the transfer and posting process more transparent and reduce the scope for discretionary decisions.