IT was none but Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam himself who, on Wednesday, made the significant remarks: “We've to think first whether the zila parishad is a necessity or not… The matter requires due consultations.” He also said the necessity of the zila parishad will have to be determined before holding the elections.
The minister who is supposed to look after the advancement of the zila parishad, the crucial tier of the local government system, questioned the existence of the zila parishad by making the remarks. The message is also very clear. The fate of the zila parishad will remain hanging in the balance for an indefinite period. The minister's remarks, however, exposed the Awami League-led government's double standard centring the local government system. The party had been saying that it will hold elections to zila parishads since the December 2008 parliamentary polls. Even after appointment of AL men as administrators in the 61 zila parishads in December 2011, the government promised to go for holding polls in the next six months. But none of the pledges saw the light.   
Now, the LGRD minister has spoken about the necessity of the zila parishad. This means appointment of party men as administrators to run the zila parishads could not satisfy the government policymakers even though the parishads, according to a TIB study, have become political organisations of the AL due to the partisan administrators. Then what does the government want to do with the zila parishad? Does it want to abolish it to empower the bureaucrats to have full control over the district level administration? Is this the way the government wants to satisfy the administration to consolidate the base of its power?
It is significant that the LGRD minister made the remarks about zila parishads to the media after a meeting with deputy commissioners. The DCs attending the conference demanded that the government increase their powers to run the district administration. The government will meet some of their demands, of course, to make them happy. But holding elections to the zila parishads mean elected representatives will take charge over the district administration. And if so, this will in no way make the DCs happy. Think about the current state of upazila parishads. If the government does not want to make the zila parishad really functional in light of the constitutional provision, it should abolish the zila parishad. There is no point in retaining the dysfunctional zila parishads with partisan men at the helm.

The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.