Of chaos and councillors

Sylhet City Corporation has fallen into a chaotic situation as 22 councillors out of 36 filed a complaint against the mayor on Wednesday, and 10 of them later released a counter-statement, saying they were "misguided" to sign the document.

Meanwhile, 23 councillors in another public circular claimed that recent local media reports about a complaint seeking removal of Mayor Ariful Haque Choudhury were "baseless", and "humiliating" for them.

Talking to this correspondent, seven councillors confirmed that they did submit a complaint to the minister for Local Government and Rural Development through the SCC chief executive officer on Wednesday.

They said, in the complaint, they sought proper investigation into some specific allegations against the mayor, but did not seek his removal.

CEO Bidhayak Roy Choudhury, however, said councillors did not submit any such complaint to him.

Councillor Mohammad Toufique Baksh (ward 26) said, "We filed the complaint so that the ministry would consider investigating the matter and take proper actions."

He said, in the complaint, they mentioned that the mayor is not conducting monthly meetings regularly and taking decisions on his own without informing the respective committees, among others.

They also mentioned that the mayor recently acquired 410 decimals of land spending Tk 24.61 crore for the construction of asphalt plant of the corporation, without discussing the issue with the councillors.

"The CEO said he will wait till Sunday before formally accepting the complaint, as he is currently looking to see whether are legal grounds on which he can receive any such complaint against the mayor," said the councillor.

Meanwhile, 10 councillors among the 22 signatories of the complaint claimed that were misguided by others. Moreover, 23 councillors criticised the media reports, which said they demanded the mayor's removal.

Councillor Shantonu Datta (ward-13) said all of them sat together to discuss the issue and finalise a list of seven allegations against the mayor, which were supposed to be submitted to the ministry.

"Later, we saw in the media reports that we have already submitted a complaint asking for the mayor's removal. But that was not what we agreed or signed for."

"We were misguided by some other councillors and it's embarrassing. Now we want a suitable solution to the issue," he said.

Asked, Councillor Toufique Baksh said, "We did not ask for the mayor's removal and all those who are claiming to be misguided signed the complaint willingly after the meeting. Now, they are saying otherwise."

Contacted, Mayor Ariful Haque Choudhury said, "I've heard that a complaint was submitted against me."

Refuting the allegations he further said, "It's just that the councillors may have some demands regarding the city's development, nothing else."