DCs press for more powers

A three-day annual conference of the deputy commissioners begins tomorrow in Dhaka with many DCs seeking power to remove elected Union Parishad chairmen and members found involved in illegal and anti-people activities.
As the local government and rural development ministry now has that authority, the UP representatives often ignore the local administration, allege the DCs.
In a written proposal to the Cabinet Division, the DCs of Pabna, Sirajganj, Mymensingh, Gazipur, Jamalpur and Rajbari have called for empowering the divisional commissioners and/or the director of local government to remove the public representatives at the lowest tier of local government in cases of illegal activities.
The proposal is on the agenda of the second day of the conference when the LGRD minister, the secretary and other officials of the Cabinet Division would be present.
The DC of Dhaka has proposed that the DCs be given the power to cancel declaration of a newspaper for publishing anti-state news or anything that hurts one's religious sentiment.
This issue is scheduled for discussion on the concluding day of the conference.
The recommendation was put forward in line with the discussion at a committee formed by the information ministry, according to a source in the committee.
In addition, the divisional commissioner of Rajshahi has demanded that the seven divisional chiefs of the administration be empowered to appoint and transfer the secretaries to the municipalities to ensure transparency and accountability in appointment and posting.
The DCs, who also work as district magistrates, have also demanded expansion of mobile court's jurisdiction so that executive magistrates could take into cognisance more offences and try the offenders summarily.
They have proposed including more offences within the purview of the Mobile Court Act, 2009, which they think would ensure public safety and public health, insiders say.
The DC of Natore has called for empowering the divisional commissioners to appoint all employees of class one municipalities and authorise the DCs to appoint the staff of other municipalities.
Crucial issues like law and order, price hike, land management and power sharing at field level between elected and government representatives would also be discussed during the conference, which has 20 business sessions to be held at the Secretariat with the cabinet secretary in the chair.
The field administrators have put forward as many as 307 recommendations to the Cabinet Division for placing in the sessions in presence of the ministers and secretaries concerned.
The DCs from 64 districts along with seven divisional commissioners would attend the conference.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the conference at her Tejgaon office. The conference would then shift to the Secretariat.
“The DCs' conference is a platform where field-level administrations known as government representatives will have direct communications with the policymakers to discuss issues face-to-face,” Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told a press briefing at the Secretariat yesterday.
The DCs play an important role in implementing the government's policies and development work at field level, he added.
“They can also give feedback about that at the conference. They also get necessary instructions from the ministers and secretaries concerned about their role,” said the cabinet secretary.