Quamrul Islam Siddique, a unique symbol of initiative, enthusiasm and development, who was not merely an engineer by profession; rather, he was an engineer of life; The Local Government Engineering Department-LGED of the country was not only established by the hands of this freedom fighter; but also was stablished LGED in the brightest position in government service. Today, on the first day of the month of September, is the 15th death anniversary of the World Bank recognized ‘Magic Boy’.
The way he roared up with arms during the liberation war in his lifetime; was an indomitable activist in the reconstruction of the war-torn country as well as in the battle for rural infrastructure development. During his lifetime, he worked to push away the darkness as the chairman of the Electricity Development Board. As the executive director of the Dhaka Transport Development Authority, has shown the expertise in implementing the Jamuna Bridge, starting from today’s Metrorail in the city. He also played a unique role as the chairman of the Privatization Commission under the Prime Minister’s Office, bridging the public-private gap.
Because of his leadership, the World Bank in 1994 named LGED as a successful and effective government institution in Bangladesh in a report entitled ‘Government that works, reforming the public sector’. The way he fought to make the country self-sufficient in food production by launching the Rubber Dam project to conserve water in the dry season is also created by him.
He started the construction of the Liberation War sculpture in the Historic Suhrawardy garden. Bangabandhu International Conference Center and NAM Flat project were implemented under his supervision. Today’s flyover system to decongest Dhaka started under his leadership and successfully implemented the Khilgaon flyover project, which started a new chapter in the country’s history. He stopped the violence of the leaders of CBA, the poison tree of corruption of the Electricity Development Board, and destroyed this cycle through mass transfer. At that time any transfer and any change in the Power Development Board was under the direction of the CBA leaders. As the influence of CBA decreased with the action of Kamrul Islam Siddique, the history of maximum power generation (in 1998) of 2800 MW was generated. Due to various corruptions, the average daily power generation was at a maximum of 1800-2000 MW.
In the life of only 63 years, he is still a model for juniors in public administration due to his talent, hard work and dedication. With humble respect, stay awake for the sake of national development. So that, a prosperous Bangladesh emerge in the light of development.
In anticipation of that, the Directorate of Local Government Promotion is organizing prayers and discussions in every mosque of the organization including the headquarters Jame Masjid.
Quamrul Islam Siddique was born on January 20, 1945 in Kushtia. The second son of father agriculturist late Nurul Islam Siddique and mother Begum Hamida Siddique, Siddique spent the first chapter of his childhood and education life in Kushtia, the memorial of Lalon Shah, Rabindranath and Mir Musharraf Hossain.
Quamrul Islam Siddique, received his civil engineering degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1966. He started his career as an assistant engineer in Kushtia Zilla Parishad in 1967. When the war of liberation started in 1971, he took up arms with the dream of building a life. After nine months of victory in the liberation struggle, he started anew the struggle to build the country.
In 1977, he obtained a higher degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. As the founder and chief engineer of LGED, he worked tirelessly to develop rural infrastructure and became the proverbial man of infrastructure development. Saiful Islam Siddique is the only son left behind as an inheritance. Like his father, he is also engaged in the development of digital infrastructure in Bangladesh. The senior vice president of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) and editor of Digital Bangla Media has been leading the digital transformation of innovative energy media, live streaming and so on.