Utility service bosses couldn't care less

Most chiefs of utility service providing organisations do not attend coordination meetings called by the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation defying an order of the Prime Minister's Office.

The government in a gazette over two years ago asked chiefs of all utility service providers in Dhaka to attend coordination meetings at the city corporations to make decisions in consultation with each other.

The PMO on June 27, 2016, asked the chiefs to attend the meetings and later inform the city corporations about the progress made in implementing the decisions taken there.

The initiative aimed at bringing dynamism among the utility service providers and complied with the Local Government Act, 2009, the PMO circular said.

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) on May 14 this year had sent a letter to the PMO mentioning the absenteeism prevalent in the coordination meetings.

DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon called three coordination meetings following the PMO order. But many of the officials sent their representatives who didn't have the authority to make any policy decisions, officials said.

Only two of 27 chiefs of utility service providers attended the first meeting on August 3, 2016, at Nagar Bhaban. Five chiefs attended the second one on November 12, 2017, and six attended the next on April 9 this year, they added.

In most cases the representatives sent by the organisations did not take part in discussions or made decisions, Mayor Khokon said.

The departments also did not inform the DSCC about the implementation or progress of any decisions taken in the meetings.

As a result, the meetings remained ineffective, said the mayor, frustrated after the last meeting.

It is important to bring all utility service providers under one umbrella and reduce bureaucratic tangles, mayor said.

DSCC Chief Executive Officer Khan Mohammad Bilal said the aim of having coordination meetings was to make instant policy decisions.

“For example, if a public toilet is set up by the city corporation, the power and electricity providers charge the corporation at their commercial rate. If we want to reach a solution to this problem in a meeting, the heads of the two organisations need to be present,” he said.

He also said to ease traffic congestion, traffic police and the departments concerned with vehicles, transport, city corporations and development authorities should coordinate and reach decisions. But that does not happen.  

The city corporations also cannot make a master plan or take any drastic measures to address the waterlogging problem because at least seven other agencies, including Wasa, are tasked with maintaining the drainage system.

Billal added that he recently asked all department heads concerned to appear in the next meeting and hoped the chiefs would comply.

The PMO has been informed and they are monitoring it, he said.

Mayor Khokon last week told The Daily Star that the city corporation would call a coordination meeting soon.

“We are hoping that participation of different department heads will increase,” he said.

A representative of the PMO is expected to be at the meeting, he said.

The picture in Dhaka North City Corporation is completely different as the corporation is run by a panel mayor who does not have the power to call a coordination meeting.

Three coordination meetings were held before the death of former mayor Annisul Huq on November 30, 2017. No meeting was held since.

The delay in holding the election was also a reason for not holding the meeting, said former DNCC secretary Dulal Krishna Saha.