DCC comes under task force watch

Amid allegations of massive corruption and irregularities, the army-led Task Force against Egregious Crimes and Corruption yesterday started looking after the activities of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) to bring necessary reforms to make it a vibrant service-oriented organisation.
The DCC came under the task force's supervision as part of the caretaker government's drive against institutionalised corruption in the second phase of the ongoing anti-graft campaign.
The task force is already looking after the activities of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) that first came under its monitoring.
Such other organisations, allegedly corrupt, will also be brought under the purge but they are giving priority to training their guns first on service- oriented ones, according to sources.
"The task force came to look into the DCC's service rules and its mandates and work for bringing reforms in it to make the corporation more service-oriented so that people could get more facilities. They will also look into whether there were any corruption in the DCC in the past," Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka told The Daily Star after a meeting with the task force.
A task force team led by Lt Col Shamsuzzoha Mohammad Salehuddin rushed to the Nagar Bhaban Building at about 1:30pm and held a meeting with the mayor and heads of different wings of the DCC.
Talking to reporters, Salehuddin said they came to the DCC to review its policy-level matters. "DCC is a service provider institution. So, we will work on how we could increase facilities for the city dwellers," he said.
Replying to a question, he said, "We have come here to examine different things so that we could bring reforms in the DCC.” Their work is at a preliminary stage now, and they will use an office at the DCC when needed, he added.
The mayor said the task force would also work for simplifying tax collection process to reduce city dwellers' sufferings.
They would investigate whether there were corruptions or irregularities in tender processes, purchases, setting up of flyovers, management of graveyards and terminals, and implementation of other DCC projects, he added.
Khoka said he told the task force coordinator to use a place within the DCC headquarters so that they could perform their duties quickly and in a convenient way.
"If the task force could bring reforms in the DCC, city people will be benefited," the mayor said adding that he had already sent a letter to the chief adviser to bring reforms in the city corporations.
Responding to a query, Khoka said he would submit his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission after getting letter from the anti-graft body.
Asked whether he knew any corrupt official, the DCC mayor said, "If there are irregularities in the corporation, we also want those be unveiled. People should know whether any employee, official and even me are involved in corruption."
He said the task force had earlier looked into different DCC projects but this time they will be monitoring activities of the entire city corporation.
"I see the matter positively as facilities for the city dwellers will increase with the intervention of the task force," the mayor added.
Panic gripped the officials and employees as the task force members took position at different key points of the DCC building including its entrance gate.
DCC Secretary Mohammd Golam Mostafa told reporters that they would arrange an office for the task force members on the ground floor of the DCC building.
He said the task force would start its work in full swing within a couple of days.