Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday announced her government’s plan to form a permanent and dedicated pay commission to recommend pay hikes for government employees on a regular basis.

After the formation of the commission, civil servants would not have to wait for getting a pay commission year after year, the Premier said.
Hasina was inaugurating the newly constructed 150-bed Government Employees Hospital at Fulbaria near Bangabazar in the capital. The public works department constructed the hospital at a cost of Tk. 28.73 crore.
Listing the measures taken by her government for the benefit of government employees, the Prime Minister said they had increased the retirement age of government employees to 59 from 57, while the retirement age of freedom fighter public employees was raised to 60 from 57.
Hasina said the quota for the children of freedom fighters had also been preserved for government jobs, while age limit for disabled people had been increased to 32.
The Prime Minister said her government was trying to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021. "Achieving this goal is possible if we work with utmost sincerity," she said.
She said significant progress had been made in achieving the target of Vision-2021, thanks the active role of government officials and employees, and the time-befitting plans and decision taken by the present government.
"As many as 96 per cent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) was implemented in the last fiscal year, while 99.7 per cent decisions of the cabinet were executed in the last four years of the present government. This was possible due to the efficiency of our civil servants," she said.
Mentioning her government's election pledge of establishing good governance, Hasina said that promotion of officers at different levels had been given on the basis of their merit, qualification and efficiency, to build an effective, skilled and dynamic administration. The Prime Minister said the work on formulation of the Public Service Act, 2013, was progressing fast to make the public administration more efficient, dynamic and time-befitting.
Reiterating her government's commitment to decentralise power, Hasina sought cooperation of all government officials and employees. "We want to reach our services to the doorsteps of the people, and you have a great responsibility to this end," she added.
Describing various welfare-oriented measures for government officials and employees, she said projects had been undertaken to construct multi-storied buildings at different places, including Mohammadpur and Segunbagicha in the capital, to solve housing problems.
She said the construction work of 448 flats for the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar was going on, while a project for constructing multi-storied buildings at Azimpur and Motijheel Government Colonies was waiting for approval.
Referring to her government's achievement in the healthcare sector, Sheikh Hasina said many new hospitals had come up in the last four-and-a-half years, while several thousand doctors, health assistants and nurses were appointed to improve the healthcare services. "We have given appointment to 4,133 assistant surgeons on the ad hoc basis and 1,945 physicians through BCS exams in the health department, while a process for appointing 7,000 doctors, 5,000 nurses and 3,000 midwives is underway," she said.
She mentioned that 15,000 community clinics and healthcare centres were set up across the country. She also referred to the telemedicine system through which healthcare services had been taken to the doorsteps of the common people.
The Prime Minister said her government had been upgrading all district and city hospitals as well as upazila health complexes by increasing the number of beds and ensuring quality services.
With cabinet secretary M Mushrraf Hussain Bhuiya in the chair, the function was addressed by health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque, PM's public administration adviser HT Imam and senior secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar.