ENGINEER SALAM

Dear President and Dear Sir, I am Engr Salam here from Kushtia Bangladesh I salute you. We have been prayed to the god to see the Barack Obama as president of America. My wife, my two daughter Orchee and Auarina like Malia and Sasha very much. They would like to make a friendship with your family. We are Bangladeshi. Our country is very beuatiful. You are invited to see our country. We hope you would not be denied us. God bless you. Our email address: kst.Salam@yahoo.Com, salam.Kst@gmail.Com. Hello Malia and Sasha please call to Orchee and Auarina in this number, 8801717007914. Orchee and Auarina are waithng.

Congratulations Barack Obama! A lot of thanks to the American people we are here from Bangladesh. Barack Obama would be a legendary president of America recovering US finincial crisis with a short time. Whole world would like to expect from Obama no more war, no more blood, no killing,peace, peace and peace. We hope Barack Obama,the man of the millennium will always keep warm relationship with our country. Once again thanks to the American people.

Welcome Barack Obama to our Bangladesh. On behalf of all professional civil engineer I am giving a lot of thanks to the American people to choose the perfect leader in right time. Virtually all American people are very smart and they could not do anything wrong beyond their conciousness. Barack Obama is a man of positive attitude and he must drive the country in a right track. All of crisis he must be overcome through his dynamic leadership accross the world. No war,no blood,no terrorism. We wish peace and always peace.

Engr Quamrul Islam Siddique was a legendary architect and promoter of country's rural development. He died at a time when the nation needed a man of quality leadership like him. Nevertheless, with his solemn demise, the country lost a versatile and gifted leader who wanted country's development to start from the grass root level.

He loved me very much as his younger brother. His wife Ms Sabera Siddique loves me as her younger brother and I respect her as my own sister. I have seen the image of my own 2nd sister late Ms Zahura Khatun,M.Sc, teacher of Kushtia Government Girls High School in the face of Ms Sabera Siddique. I have seen the same manner of my own late sister in Ms Sabera Siddique. Zinia, Tania, Faria daughter of Q I Siddique loves me as their own uncle. Ms Sabera Siddique is a perfect house wife and She has been sacrificed everything for the successs of Engr Quamrul Islam Siddique. Engr Quamrul Islam Siddique was born in 1947 at Courtpara,Kushtia. His father's name is late Nurul Islam Siddique. Q I Siddique was the 2nd son of his parents. His own and younger brother Fakhrul Islam Siddique, nick Mamun is a graduate civil engineer (passed from RUET). He did not engage his job in the professional line. There is a Collegiate school in the name of his mother Begom Hamida Siddique at Boria, Upazila: Kushtia Sadar, Kushtia. Engr Q I Siddique was the student of Kushtia Sirajul Haque Muslim High School, Kushtia Government College and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). After having engineering degree he has been joined in Kushtia District Council / Kushtia Zilla Parishad as a District Engineer eqiuvalent to assistant engineer where I am posted on deputation as an Assistant Engineer. Engr Quamrul Islam Siddique told me to serve Kushtia Zilla Parishad for experience. He told me "Salam, please join in Kushtia Zilla Parishad without todbir elsewhere". He has been served in Kushtia Zilla Parishad for about 8 years. He planted a Mahua Tree in front of Kushtia Zilla Parishad during in his service.

Engr Quamrul Islam Siddique founded the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) to its present status from a simple and negligible works programme wing of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD & Cooperatives). When QI Siddique was working as a civil engineer in Khulna Municipality, he was picked up to head works programme wing of the ministry in Dhaka. At that time, works programme wing had its offices in several buildings in Lalmatia in the city. The wing was later named as Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB). Under Mr. Siddique's leadership, LGEB quickly spread its wings across the country. Several rural development infrastructure projects were taken up and implemented. The primary objective of the LGEB was to build rural roads type-B, bridge, culverts and growth centres (rural markets) and connecting roads. After successful implementation of some projects, development partners were increasing showing their interest to channel their fund to LGEB.

Engineer Siddique gave topmost importance to building rural markets (growth centres) and the connecting roads to the markets. Learning lessons from a research study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, USA, he thought if the farmers could find a safe place to sell their merchandise and if transportation of the commodities to the urban areas could be ensured by building a network of connecting roads, then rural economy is bound to prosper. Once these rural markets were established and connecting roads were built, village people then got a new lease of life It was another success story of Engineer Siddique.

Mr Siddique also directed all his field-level engineers to introduce biogas technology in some of the designated villages to generate electricity for the village people. Using cow dung and human excreta, this technology requires a negligible amount of money to generate power. Very soon, it became popular in the rural areas. Today, biogas technology is being widely used in many parts of the country. Engineer Siddique's quest for introducing renewable energy continued for long.

Witnessing QI Siddiqui's success in developing infrastructure throughout the country, the donors wanted the LGED to take up projects that remained outside the jurisdiction of the department. Primary school repair and maintenance project of the education ministry, small water resources projects of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) were vested with the LGED with the approval of the council of ministers. Later, work of a city flyover, some long bridges and highways was also transferred to LGED by the government witnessing its remarkable success. Today, the LGED has its presence felt in vital sectors like agriculture, forestry, environment, land and water resources and irrigation etc.

On return from China visit, he introduced rubber dam technology in Chittagong to conserve water in the dry season. Inflated rubber was used to store as much water as it could for the lean season use. These dams brought about a radical change in agricultural cultivation of the areas where they were installed.

Engineer Siddique introduced geographic information system (GIS) technology in LGED headquarters in early nineties with a view to facilitate development of nationwide spatial database for rural infrastructure and to enhance institutional capability for planning and monitoring of rural development programmes in Bangladesh. As a first step for acquisition of spatial data, GIS Unit completed digitisation of Upazila/Thana Base Map for the whole country. The procurement of a nationwide coverage of SPOT Satellite imagery in 1989 gave options for tackling a most challenging exercise in LGED the preparation Thana Base Map for the whole country. In addition, LGED GIS unit developed municipal databases for 32 out of 60 secondary towns in the country and, in doing that the potentials of remote sensing technology have been exploited substantially & particularly in urban growth mapping.

Mr QI Siddique loved his organisation LGED so much that he never wanted to part with it. He built multi-storied LGED Bhaban in Agargaon and planted trees surrounding the building. When he was transferred on promotion to become a full secretary to the government, he was even reluctant to leave LGED. But of late he quit LGED leaving his heart reverberating for his dear organisation. From time to time the government used his negotiating skill to test and sent him abroad for negotiating foreign aid contracts. Indeed, Bangladesh lacked quality leadership with negotiating capabilities. Mr. Siddique successfully negotiated quite a number of big contracts with his outstanding skills and earned commendation from both the government and the development partners.

During his serving in privatetiztion board as a Chairman Mr Siddique stated that painful decision of the government to close down the Adamjee Jute Mills (AGM), the biggest jute mills of the world. As the government was incurring huge losses and there was no prospective buyer, the decision to close it for good was really a major challenge while. But his thought was to transform the mill areas into an industrial park. During his tenure, Privatisation Board was upgraded to a commission and the post of chairman enjoyed the rank and status of a deputy minister.

His thought was how the looms and properties of AGM would be sold to the intending buyers and how the overseas investors would find the zone a safe haven to invest their money for setting up various mills and factories. He wanted media help for propagating these ideas so that the general people did not rue the closure of AGM.Today, Adamjee Export Processing Zone (EPZ) is thriving brightly on the ruins of the AGM and the zone is humming with the activities of both local and foreign investors. Mr QI Siddique's farsightedness has been amply demonstrated in this incident.

An avid lover of birds and animals, his residence at Dhanmondi was virtually a sanctuary of various species of birds and animals. His habit was to read newspapers and magazines in the morning. When he found reports of irregularities and corruption in the media, he always used to direct instant investigation against the concerned persons. If the reports were found genuine, he took immediate actions against the persons concerned. At home, when he found time, he used to see the video footage of various ongoing projects in the rural Bangladesh. Video footage covered infrastructure works and their implementation and how such works were impacting upon socio-economic activities of the helpless poor people. He basically monitored the inter-actions of the target group people and tried to chalk out future strategies based on his findings. This is a very hard work. Still he found pleasure in doing such work that is aimed at eliminating poverty from village life. By reading newspapers and inter-acting with grass-root people, he tried to evolve new course of action in his endeavour to give new lease of life to rural people.

Mr. QI Siddiqui was seen by many as a fine gentleman, a noted expert in the field of engineering, a charismatic orator and communicator, and an effective result-seeker and maker in pertinent areas of his life long activities. He held the post of the president of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh for some time. In addition, he was associated with a number of international organisations. He was recipients of various national and international awards for his good work.

After he retired from the government service, he was appointed executive director of Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Board (DTCB) on contractual basis. On completion of the one-year contract, it was renewed for another year. He thought his service in the DTBS was very challenging and he professionally enjoyed his work. The major challenge that he faced was how to give DTCB a shape of a professional body to plan and co-ordinate the traffic and transport system of greater metropolitan Dhaka.

From the very beginning the DTCB lacked professional staff. Nothing was done to recruit people like transport planner, transport modeller and land use planner, which all are vital positions. Most people were on deputation from Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and it became impossible to run the DTCB with those unprofessional workers. Most of the officials were simply dumped from other organisations and some of them came as timeserver as it was thought that DTCB was a temporary organisation. After few months they went back or were transferred. As such, he could not contribute significantly to this organisation and he left disappointed.

When Quamrul Islam Siddique was the chairman of the Power Development Board then he told a roundtable discussion: "For extracting coal, the underground mining method (in Barapukuria) did not give us good experience. His opinion was based on the fact that there were accidents in the Barapukuria coalmine, the temperature in the tunnels did not allow the labourers to work efficiently. Ensuring proper ventilation and mine safety is technically very complex and costly, and there are the problems of flash flows of water, the proven threat of methane and carbon monoxide gas emissions, and spontaneous firing of coal. Underground mining, ultimately, does not have the benefit of not displacing the people and structures above the mine or not saving the agricultural land, since the extraction of coal from the coal bed produces voids beneath the soil.

At the fag end of his life, he became associated with the Global Water Partnership, a world forum of formulating strategies for water-related issues. He was made president of Bangladesh Water Partnership. Mr. Siddique said that building storage facilities in Nepal along with framing an effective regional model of flood management would be helpful in resolving water disputes in South Asia.

He blamed the then government, as it did not make any serious effort to build a Ganges barrage. Referring to water disputes between Bangladesh and India, Bangladesh Water Partnership chief said India, which is a leader of this region, has to understand the implications of climate change and should act accordingly.

Those who have seen him participating in numerous television talk shows must admit that his knowledge and perception about wide ranging issues were very strong and versatile.
After watching talk show alwayes I put my opinion over cell phone to him. He represented Bangladesh in many world fora. Just before his death, he was scheduled to attend a seminar organised by the Global Water Partnership in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On his way along with his wife Ms Sabera Siddique he died in the house of his son Saif on 1st Sept/2008,when he was on transit in New Jersey, USA. May Allah rest his soul in peace! I also requested to pray for his family.

Do You know Justice Radhabinod Pal is man of Kushtia district. Golden son Justice Radhabinod Pal was born Salimpur village of Taragunia Union under Daulatpur Upazila adjacent to Mirpur Upazila under Kushtia District..Engr Salam