Advisers have little time to visit rural areas, oversee dev activities

As the caretaker government has been busy negotiating with political parties since early April, most of its advisers seem to have little time to visit places outside the capital, although a decision was taken earlier to boost development activities countrywide.
Another late last year decision for accelerating administrative activities in rural areas also seems to be far from being implemented anytime soon, as the ongoing politico-electoral negotiation is expected to prolong till the end of next month.
The government took the decisions in a bid to identify region based problems, and to generate employment opportunities following the back-to-back floods and cyclone Sidr of last year.
Members of the 10-person council of advisers to the military backed caretaker government were then asked to visit different districts to identify the existing problems, and to come up with pragmatic recommendations for solutions.
The weekly meeting of the council was also shifted to Sunday from Saturday to provide the advisers with an opportunity to find time for travelling, capitalising on the two-day weekends.
"Nowadays most advisers have little time to go outside Dhaka," said a top LGRD ministry official.
He said Adviser Anwarul Iqbal, who is in charge of three ministries -- LGRD and cooperatives, jute, and labour -- has been giving more time to the dialogues since early April, when a panel of advisers including himself started 'informal' talks with the political parties to prepare ground for the ongoing 'official' talks.
"He used to visit places outside the capital whenever he got time," the official told The Daily Star, adding that Anwarul Iqbal visited Sirajganj on May 16.
The four other advisers in the government delegation to the dialogues -- Commerce and Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, Communications and Housing Adviser Ghulam Quader, Law, Land and Religious Affairs Adviser AF Hassan Ariff, and Foreign and Expatriates' Welfare Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury -- also have very little time to go outside the capital.
Home Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin went to Rajshahi on May 17 to attend a divisional conference on law and order, while Finance and Planning Adviser Dr ABM Azizul Islam, and Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali have not been seen visiting places outside the capital very regularly.
Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, whose portfolio includes the ministries of primary and mass education, women and children, and cultural affairs, returned from the US recently after a 13-day personal tour.
“She will soon make plans for visiting places outside Dhaka," said an official of the women and children affairs ministry.
Agriculture and Water Resources Adviser CS Karim, however, has been making regular trips outside the capital.
The interim government also decided to hold meetings of the council of advisers outside the capital, hoping to go closer to the common folks, and to inspire local administrations in development efforts.
Although two such meetings took place in February and March this year, the schedule for the third is yet to be fixed.
The first-ever cabinet meeting outside Dhaka was held in Rangpur on February 2 followed by another one in Barisal on March 6. Such meetings were supposed to be held in other divisions too.
In the first meeting, the government approved 14-point programme, including resolving Monga, increasing employment, expand business for the rapid socioeconomic development of the country's poverty-stricken region.
The CA then told reporters that such meetings would be held in other districts of the country gradually. “There are some regional issues that need to be dealt with regionally, otherwise these problems will remain unaddressed.”
But currently the advisers are hardly visiting the regions, hampering implementation of the government programmes.
The case of the Barisal region is also similar, where the chief adviser (CA) announced a set of development plans for southern districts to recover from the damage and losses caused by cyclonic storm Sidr that had struck the region on November 15 last year.
He was hopeful about improving the overall economic condition of the region by implementing the plans taken on the basis of suggestions and observations made by the advisers and the special assistants to the CA.
It was expected that the advisers would go outside Dhaka on a regular basis, so they could gather first hand experience about the actual problems local people are facing, both in terms of economy and governance, and could come up with realistic suggestions.
Sources in different ministries said the overburdened advisers are not even being able to carry out their official duties properly.
Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Syed Fahim Munaim, however, told The Daily Star recently that five of the advisers are busy with the dialogues now, but the others are visiting places outside the capital.
"They are visiting rural areas whenever they get time," he said.