Pledge to work to strengthen local govt

Leaders of different local government associations yesterday vowed to work together to strengthen the local government system and press home their demands.
They alleged that the government is taking different initiatives to curtail the power of local government representatives that will narrow the way of strengthening the system.
“The government is showing negligence towards the local government body in different ways," said Prof Shamim Al Razi, secretary general of Municipal Association of Bangladesh (MAB). "If it continues, the local government system will weaken day by day. We'll have to work together to overcome the problems.”
He also placed MAB's 16-point demand again. The demands include formulation of 'Nagar Adalat Ain' (city court law), activation of Bangladesh Municipal Development Fund (BMDF), allocation of 40 percent of nation development budget for the institutions of local government body and bringing all the institutions of local government under the Prime Minister's Office.
Mahbubur Rahman Tulu, president of Bangladesh Union Parishad Forum (BUPF), demanded stopping of unexpected interference of lawmakers in different development activities of union parishads and scrapping of all notifications issued by the government that goes against making UP an autonomous body.
Mahibur Rahman, convener of Bangladesh Upazila Chairman and Vice-chairman Oikya Parishad, said, “We've been continuing movements for the last 14 months to press our 10-point demand that are very important to strengthen the local government body. But the government do not pay heed to those.”
Speaking as the special guest, local government expert Dr Tofail Ahmed said all the associations should draft some common demands to strengthen the local government system and should design specific course of action to press those.
He stressed the need for formation of multi-donors trust fund to run different development activities of the local government.
Local government expert Dr Mohammad Mohabbat Khan presided over the meeting and Taleya Rehman, executive director of Democracywatch, moderated it.
Chairmen, vice-chairmen of different upazila parishads and union parishads from across the country were present at the meeting.