"Nobody will be allowed to make willful delay or neglect implementation of government decisions. Proper action will be taken against people neglecting duty," she warned.

Addressing government secretaries at the Cabinet Division yesterday, she asked the top officials not to allow irregularities and corruption in the administration.

"The last quarter of the current fiscal year is passing away, so release funds for the remaining period of development projects," she said, asking the officials to be pro-active in taking up project and removing obstacles to their implementation to avoid additional expenditure.

"The old and long habit of taking up projects hurriedly at the end of fiscal year even by ignoring normal procedures must be stopped. Un-utilised fund should be surrendered in case of non-completion of projects and programmes."

Khaleda said it emerged as a culture of spending allocated project funds in a hurry at the end of every fiscal year, but it was about time that such a trend was stopped.

She listed her government's development programmes and programmes to raise the skills and efficiency of public servants.

She said her government took a programme to provide 600 mid-ranking officials with a seven-year training to raise their skills.

An initiative to build a 'Scholar Civil Servant' has also been taken and around 3,000 officials will be given the opportunity to obtain PhD and MS degrees at a cost of Tk 1,500 crore, she said.

Briefing reporters after the nearly three-hour meeting from 12:30pm, Cabinet Secretary Dr Sa'adat Hussain said 80 percent of the decisions and government orders were implemented in the last two and a half years.

Thirty of the 42 secretaries who attended the function spoke.

Prime Minister's Political Secretary MA Harris Chowdhury was also present but her Acting Secretary AHM Nurul Islam was absent.