JS body blasts LGRD minister, state minister

A parliamentary body yesterday blasted LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam and his deputy Jahangir Kabir Nanak for their repeated absence in the meetings of the committee.
Expressing “utmost resentment,” members of the parliamentary standing committee on LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry asked the ministers to attend the next meeting on May 2.
“If the minister and the state minister don't join the next meeting, I will resign from the committee,” Abul Khair Bhuiyan, member of the committee, told The Daily Star at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The BNP lawmaker walked out of the meeting protesting the absence of the ministers.
The parliamentary oversight body will inform Speaker Abdul Hamid about the matter and will seek his directions in this regard, added Bhuiyan.
Committee sources said Ashraful and Nanak have attended only about 17 meetings out of a total of 47 held so far.
The committee earlier several times had drawn the attention of the two about their frequent absence.
M Rahmat Ali, chief of the parliamentary body, questioned the rationale of holding meetings in absence of both the ministers.
“Neither the minister nor the state minister turns up at the meetings to reply to the queries of the members of the committee,” he added.
The committee members also alleged that ministry officials do not provide full information on matters they inquire about.
The committee had asked the ministry to provide information about the allocation in test relief, food for work and other such programmes, said Abul Khair Bhuiyan. “But the ministry is yet to provide that information.”
The committee yesterday formed a five-member sub-committee headed by lawmaker Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury to examine the income and expenditure of 37 community centres in the capital.