Staff Correspondent

A special commemoration meeting will be held on Monday afternoon at the Conference Center of the headquarters of Engineers Institution, Bangladesh (IEB) at Ramna in the capital to commemorate the death anniversary of the founder Chief Engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department-LGED and the shaper of rural infrastructure of Bangladesh, former president of IEB, Engineer Quamrul Islam Siddique.

IEB President Engineer Md. Abdus Sabur will attend the meeting as the chief guest while the IEB Honorary General Secretary Engineer Md. Manjurul Haque Manju will be present as special guest.

Sheikh Tajul Islam Tuhin, the founder of The Engineers Foundation and organizer of the event informed that the former and current engineers of the LGED will be present at the meeting.

The legendary engineer Quamrul Islam Siddique was born on January 20, 1945 in Kushtia. He was the son of late Nurul Islam Siddique, an agricultural development activist, and Hamida Siddique, a social worker.

He spent his school life in Kushtia Mission School and Sirajul Haque Muslim High School. He passed his matriculation in 1960. He passed ISC in 1962 from Kushtia College. He actively participated in the liberation war of 1971. In 1973, he was transferred to Khulna Municipality as Municipal Engineer. He got married in 1974 to Sabera Siddiqua, daughter of renowned Sufi saint Kazi Abu Mukarram Fazlul Bari.

Quamrul Islam Siddique started his career in Kushtia in the year 1967 as an Assistant Engineer (Works Program) after receiving his MSc degree in Civil Engineering. Before the Great Liberation War of 1971, he was an engineer of Kushtia District Council. He performed the responsibility of the organization in the Great War of Liberation.

In late 1975, he joined the Ministry of Local Government as an engineer. He went to England in 1976 to pursue a Master’s degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Sheffield, England. After obtaining Master’s degree from England, he returned to Bangladesh and performed important duties in Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). He also served as Chairman of PDB. He was the master planner of the much discussed Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover project. The Kushtia District Association of Dhaka awarded him the Development Chariot Medal 2002. He was the President of Dhaka Kushtia Association.

After the liberation war, his job started to improve. He gained the trust of the donor countries of the world and the donor countries accepted him as a trusted friend. Building a war-torn country required development at the local level. He focused on that and became the Chief Engineer of Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB).

Later, Local Government Engineering Bureau LGEB was renamed as Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). While being the Chief Engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), he paved every road in every village across the country; built bridges, culverts, paved infrastructure and achieved unprecedented development.

The rural infrastructure has developed so much today based on the seeds sown by Quamrul Islam Siddique in the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). He was dedicated and hardworking. The housing project for the lower and middle class people is the contribution of Quamrul Islam Siddique. He never bowed down to injustice. He was the Secretary of Ministry of Public Works and Chairman of Power Development Board (PDB), Urban Transport, Executive Director of Dhaka Vehicle Coordination Board (DTCB) for infrastructure development of the capital. He played an important role in the development of various institutions. His contribution is still evident in Purbachal.

Quamrul Islam Siddique was a very knowledgeable person in various technical matters, he was an efficient administrator and manager. All in all a devotee, Dedicated and relentless worker. At the local level, a notable institution was the early development of infrastructure and rural development through local government (LGEB). Later LGEB became a huge organization under his leadership as LGED. Mr. Siddique’s work was known through LGED’s newsletter.

In this way, before any engineer has presented various news about the development to the public. Under his leadership, LGED became one of the most successful organizations in the country and expanded its operations to almost all regions of Bangladesh. In addition to government funding, funding for LGED’s work came from a number of donor agencies and donor countries. All of them unanimously consider LGED as an ideal institution. Creating such an organization was a huge achievement in one’s life. One of the great contributions of Quamrul Islam Siddique was to build an institution like LGED. Later, however, he materialized a few more projects, institutions and inter-communication hubs with his leadership quality.

He has proved himself as a tireless and successful worker as the initiator and implementer of creative projects like Rubber Dam, GIS, MRDP and so on.

In 2003-2004, Quamrul Islam Siddique was elected as the first Chairperson of Global Water Partnership South Asia Region. He always involved himself extensively with social activities, including serving as the president of Bangladesh Water Partnership and Bangladesh National Forum for Rubal Transport Development. He established Hamida Siddique Collegiate School in the name of his mother and Nurul Islam Siddique Orphanage in the name of his father in Baria village of Jagoti Union of Kushtia.

On September 1, 2008, this legendary engineer passed away at the age of 63 at his only son, Saiful Islam Siddique’s home in New Jersey, America.