Due to the MPs and Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs), the elected representatives of the local government are not able to play an effective role. MPs interfere in the work of local government and UNOs play the role of public representatives.
These allegations were made by the elected representatives of the local government at the National Convention of the Governance Advocacy Forum at the Krishibid Institution in the capital on Sunday. People’s representatives of Zila Parishad, Upazila Parishad, Municipality and Union Parishad (UP) took part in the Effective Local Government National Convention 2021. Hundreds of local government representatives from all over the country took part in it.
Mansur Rahman Khan, vice-president of the Bangladesh Union Parishad Chairman’s Association, said, ‘Our biggest problem is the MP. As he is an advisor to the Upazila Parishad, the Parishad is not independent. As long as the Upazila Parishad is not independent, there will be many difficulties in the work. He added that if the local government is completely independent, the chairman and members will be able to work for the development of the area.
Mansur Rahman Khan said that a lot of corruption is due to the local government MPs. He demanded that the MPs should be engaged in making laws for this.
Mausumi Rahman, female vice chairman of Puthia Upazila Parishad, said UNO has to be called ‘Sir’. He further said, ‘I think he would be happy to call AC Land also sir. Everywhere our name is below OC.
Moushumi Rahman said, ‘The one who has UNO in my upazila, I think he is a people’s representative. The blankets or government relief he actually gave in the car. We do not know what is real, what was given, who was given. If we want to know, it is said that it has been given.
Convention on Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. Tajul Islam said the more the local government can be made effective, the more the welfare of the people will be possible. “We have local government structures, but they also have some weaknesses,” he said. But bureaucracy cannot be denied. Therefore, local government people’s representatives and government officials-employees have to coexist. We have to respect each other.
At that time, Professor Mobasher Monem of the Department of Public Administration, Dhaka University, said that it is often seen that government officials are becoming more powerful. It is necessary to identify and solve the problem.
Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed, president of the Governance Advocacy Forum and chairman of the Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation, said there was a need for a framework for all to work together. There is a crisis in that structure. Some people become much stronger, on the other hand, some people can not be strong. It is possible to implement it if the structure is fixed.
Dilruba Reza, a woman councilor of Nalchiti municipality in Jhalokati district, demanded a change in the mentality of women public representatives in the local government. She said, ‘I have been elected as a reserved female councilor. But male councilors say what do women do here? Why do you come every day.
Dilruba Reza complained, ‘I stand by the needs of all people, I work more than male councilors. But at the time of allotment it is said that there is no allotment for you. In the case of ADP or any other allocation, we are not given the same amount. He demanded that legislation be enacted on how much would be allocated for reserved women councilors.
At that time Gazipur District Council Chairman Akhtar Uzzaman said, ‘We are being told to run our own income.
