Upazila parishads left with no work

Sit almost idle for over 7 months since election; lawmakers, UNOs play major role in development
Over seven months into being constituted through public elections, the upazila parishads have yet to start functioning, as the Awami League (AL)-led government is still allowing members of parliament (MPs) and the civil administration to carry out the parishads’ jobs.
The practice however is in contradiction with the country’s constitution and the ruling party’s electoral pledge for establishing a strong local government system.
According to the constitution and Upazila Parishad Act, the functions of the parishads include dealing with local administrative and establishment issues, ensuring law and order and services related to public welfare, and formulation and implementation of local economic and social development plans.
But local civil administrations led by upazila executive [nirbahi] officers, who were made secretaries to the parisahds by law, have been controlling almost all parishad functions with the central government’s blessing, hampering the elected local governments’ ability to function properly.
Lawmakers, who were made advisers to the upazila parishads, have also been controlling many local development activities engaging their party people to ensure their stronghold in the areas.
“Upazila executive officers and MPs are controlling everything including administrative and development work. Even the government carries out all its correspondence with the upazila executive officers. We have nothing to do at the moment,” Bishwanath Sarker Bitu, chairman of Badarganj Upazila of Rangpur told The Daily Star recently.
Under such circumstances, over 1,400 elected chairmen and vice-chairmen of 481 upazila parishads across the country have not received any remuneration since their elections on January 22 this year, as the government has yet to fix the amount. They are not even getting any fund for running their offices.
The government also has yet to frame the rules of business for upazila parishads, triggering frustration among the elected representatives of newly revived upazila level local government system, which had been dissolved in 1991 to satisfy the erstwhile MPs and bureaucrats.
The national committee to monitor the functions of the upazila parishads also has not held any meeting yet, since its formation four months ago.
Almost all upazila parishads have yet to form a set of departmental standing committees to carry out their tasks properly as well, because of a lack of guidelines. Many of the parishads do not even meet regularly, said a number of upazila chairmen.
Those frustrated chairmen also said they just go to their offices, spend some time there, and then leave due to not having anything specific to do. They do not even get any administrative file to deal with, they added.
“We have four things — copies of the gazette of our elections and oath, a space for the office and a circular of May. We got nothing to make the upazila parishad effective for public welfare,” Harun Ur Rashid, chairman of Dumki upazila parishad of Patuakhali, told The Daily Star.
Harun, also the convener of Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Association, said the situation is quite humiliating for the elected upazila parishad chairmen and vice-chairmen.
“We can’t let the situation to continue for an indefinite period. We are consulting to launch an agitation for an effective upazila parishad system, in light of the constitution and law,” he said. The agitation might be launched soon after the Eid-ul-Fitr, he added.
According to the constitution, the upazila parishads are authorised to oversee local administrations and the work of public officers, maintenance of public order, and preparation and implementation of plans relating to public services and economic development.
In its election manifesto, ruling AL also promised to bring massive changes to the country’s system of governance, giving emphasis on the local government system. Union parishads, upazila parishads, and zila parishads would be strengthened by decentralising the power, it asserted.
“Local governments of districts and upazilas will be made self-reliant and autonomous, and they will play pivotal roles in local development,” says AL’s election manifesto that contributed hugely to its landslide victory in the December 29, 2008 parliamentary election.
But the present scenario is totally opposite, since the upazila parishads are not yet self-reliant as they are not being allowed to function without consulting respective MPs.
The central government also did not amply clear its position on the local government institutions, although it already empowered the lawmakers to meddle in the functions of the upazila parishads, by making them advisers to the parishads.
The local government and rural development (LGRD) ministry in May this year issued a set of guidelines for upazila parishads, without defining the jurisdiction of elected parishad representatives in relation to approval, implementation, and monitoring of rural infrastructure maintenance projects. It also said the guideline will remain effective until the Upazila Parishad Rules of Business 2009 is framed.
Following submissions of a large number of applications to the Cabinet Division for amending the Upazila Parishad Act, the LGRD ministry also planned to amend it, to change the official status of upazila executive officers to chief executive officers to upazila parishads, from their current status of secretaries to the parishads, said ministry officials.
Upazila executive officers, also known as upazila nirbahi officers, had sent the applications as they ‘do not like to work as secretaries under elected upazila parishad chairmen’, the ministry officials added.

Courtesy of The Daily Star