Call to increase budgetary allocation for local govt
Justice Ghulam Rabbani speaks at a roundtable at Cirdap auditorium in the city yesterday. On his right is Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad and on his left is Mohsin Ali.Photo: STAR
Speakers at a roundtable yesterday urged the government to increase budgetary allocation for local government institutions and specify their jurisdiction, responsibility and authority in order strengthen them.
As the budgetary allocation for the local government is too inadequate, it cannot contribute much to the development of rural areas, they said, adding that it is important to take rural problems into consideration while preparing the budget.
They also said a pro-poor budget and decentralisation of policies are imperative for a strong local government system.
The Governance Advocacy Forum organised the discussion titled 'National budget and the local government' at Cirdap auditorium in the city.
Mizanul Haque Mizan, chairman of Shakta Union Parishad in Keraniganj, said grassroots level people give their opinions in pre-budget discussions, but the budget do not reflect them.
No initiative to strengthen the local government bodies would be successful if the opinions of their representatives are ignored, since they have close links with the grassroots level people, he said.
Bazle Rejbi Al Hasan, another union parishad chairman from Rajshahi, demanded specific allocation of budget for union parishads as this lowest tier of the local government provide services for most of the rural people.
Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, co-chairman of Education Policy Formulation Committee, said, "We cannot know the basic problems of the general people unless we listen to the opinions of the local government representatives."
Budget should have measures to deal with the problems facing the people, he added.
He also said that many good speeches are being delivered before the budget is prepared, but most of the money goes to those sectors where the pressure groups are active.
The amount of revenue income is too poor, he said and urged all to promote the culture of giving taxes.
Speaking as the chief guest, Justice Ghulam Rabbani said freedom of the people depends not only on their franchise but also on their participation in the executive tasks of the state.
Presenting the keynote paper, Akmat Ali Mia of Governance Coalition urged the government to assign the duties of revenue collection at the local government level to the local government institutions.
Fazle Hossain Badsha MP, Advocate Sanjida Khanam MP and Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury MP also spoke at the roundtable moderated by Mohsin Ali, coordinator of the Advocacy Forum.
The lawmakers called for increasing budget for local government institutions and stressed the need for making a bridge between the lawmakers and the representatives of local government institutions.
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