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Donors for joint watch on NGOs

Objection to proposals for service charge, registration

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Donors want a role if the government keeps a watch on the nongovernment organisations (NGOs) for 'political links'.
They also objected to the government's intention to impose 1 per cent service charge on NGO fund.
The views were expressed at a meeting yesterday with a cabinet committee to discuss a proposed national policy for the NGOs.
The donors agreed that NGO activities should be monitored to get to know whether their funds are being used for political purposes, but said the watch should be from both sides.
"We want donors' participation in the monitoring," one of the donor representatives told the meeting.
The cabinet committee is now at the final stage of formulating a national NGO policy. In its 17-point proposal, the committee suggested imposition of service charge on foreign grants and monitoring of 'political activities' of NGOs.
Donors viewed that imposition of service charge would discourage them from channelling funds to Bangladesh. They said this amounts to imposition of tax on assistance.
The cabinet committee members however argued that the proposal was made in line with the existing NGO regulations.
One of the donor representatives then asked the government to explain how it defines the NGOs.
The government said the charge would not be applicable to international donors and is meant for the local NGOs.
The government also claimed that the proposal requiring NGOs to obtain certificates from the district administrations to get funds released from the NGO Affairs Bureau has been made to bring transparency in the NGO activities. However, donors opposed the proposal.
Later, the government said it would review the donors' objections.
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The World Bank, the European Commission, the Netherlands, the United Nations Fund for Population Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, and the DFID attended the meeting with Local Government and Rural Development Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuyian. Bhuyian is also the president of the cabinet committee that made the proposals.
After the meeting, World Bank Country Director Fredrick T Temple told reporters that donors have requested the government to drop some proposals of the committee.
Committee members Health and Family Planning Minister Mosharraf Hossain, Industries Minister MK Anwar, Information Minister Tariqul Islam and Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Muzahid were also present in the meeting.