Govt scrapped registrations of 228 NGOs between 2017 and 2021: Mozammel

The government has cancelled the registrations of 228 non-government organisations (NGOs) in the last four years between 2017 and 2021 over different reasons including violation of conditions, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque told the parliament today.

At present there 2,526 NGOs are operating in the country, including 2,266 local NGOs and 260 foreign ones registered under the Bureau of NGO Affairs, said Mozammel, who is also in charge of the Prime Minister's Office in parliamentary affairs.

The minister came up with the information in a scripted reply to a query from Jatiya Party lawmaker Moshiur Rahman Ranga.

According to section 14 of the Foreign Grants (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2016, it is considered a crime under the country's law and legal action is taken if any NGO or any person working in an NGO violates the provisions of these laws and rules or orders, makes hateful and indecent remarks about the constitution and constitutional institutions, or acts against the state, funds, sponsors or supports militancy or terrorism, or has evidence of involvement in trafficking of women and children.

He also informed that the NGO bureau verifies the all information regarding a NGO while giving approval, including the name and duration of the project, amount of money, date of project approval, project information, project area related information, allocation for the project in district / upazila, allocation in the year under multi-year project, actual expenditure in the year, number of beneficiaries, whether the administration has involved in selecting the beneficiaries and short description.

The minister also said, "According to the Foreign Grants (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2016, the Bureau of NGO Affairs also monitors the voluntary activities conducted by individuals and NGOs."

According to the law, the bureau can form a monitoring committee and, if necessary, can appoint an external observer to this end, he added.

The question-answer session was tabled with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.