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UZ bill goes against AL poll manifesto

Even a cabinet decision to keep upazilas free of MPs' influence ignored

Shakhawat Liton
With the passing of the new upazila parishad bill in the Awami League (AL) majority parliament, the government empowered lawmakers to meddle in the functioning of upazila parishads, burying AL's electoral pledge of making the parishads self-reliant and autonomous.
The government could not defend in the parliament a cabinet decision to keep the lawmakers at bay from the functioning of upazila parishads, in the face of tremendous pressure from the MPs who demanded authority to control the local government unit, a minister told The Daily Star seeking anonymity.
"Local governments of districts and upazilas will be made self-reliant and autonomous and they will play pivotal roles in local development," says the ruling AL’s election manifesto that contributed hugely to its landslide victory in the December 29, 2008 parliamentary elec-tion.
In the manifesto, AL also promised to bring massive changes to the political structure giving emphasis on the local government system. Union parishads, upazila parishads, and zila parishads will be strengthened by decentralising the power, it asserts.
But the bill titled Upazila Parishad (reintroduction and amendment) Act 2009, passed in the parliament on Monday, prevents the parishads from becoming self reliant and autonomous, as they are not allowed to perform without the 'suggestions' of lawmakers.
According to the provisions included in the bill following the demand of MPs, lawmakers will be advisers to the parishads in their constituencies and the parishads 'will accept the suggestions of the lawmakers'.
Moreover, the parishads are not allowed to send development plans to the government for implementation without recommendations from lawmakers. The parishads must also let the lawmakers know even if they merely want to contact the government.
It means none of the upazila parishads will be able to do or decide things by themselves, rather they will have to depend on the MPs, who in fact stood on the way of implementing their own electoral pledge of making the parishads self reliant and autonomous.
The cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina however had decided to strengthen the upazila parishads by keeping them free from the grips of the MPs.
The cabinet approved bill, which was placed in the parliament too on February 24, did not propose to allow lawmakers to meddle in the lune-tioningofupazila parishads.
The prime minister had opted to keep the lawmakers away from distribution of wheat and rice for local development activities, a minister who attended that meeting said, adding that all members of the council of ministers had supported the premier's sentiment.
The cabinet approved bill had also decided to repeal the previous provision that had made it mandatory for the parishads to seek suggestions oflawmakers.
The bill approved by the cabinet only proposed that the lawmakers would act as advisers to the upazila parishads.
After scrutinising the bill approved by the cabinet, the parliamentary standing committee on local government made new recommendations, which were included in the bill, to meet the lawmakers' demand that they be given the authority to call the shots in upazila parishads.
Talking to The Daily Star on Tuesday, a day after the passing of the bill, a minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was against the proposal for allowing the lawmakers absolute authority to control the devel-
opment activities in upazilas.
She had also assured upazila chairmen, who met her on Monday before the passing of the controversial bill, of considering their demand for not giving the lawmakers the sweeping authority recommended by the parliamentary body, the minister added.
"But when she entered the House, a number of ministers informed her that the party's MPs might not vote for passing the upazila parishad bill, if their proposed authority was not included." the minister said on condition of anonymity
He said, "I was personally surprised to see that ministers who had supported the prime minister in the cabinet meeting, were changing their positions and suggesting her to meet the lawmakers' demand."
IGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, who placed the upazila parishad bill, accepted all significant recommendations of the standing commit-
tee without uttering a single word against them.
On the day the bill was scheduled for voting, ruling AL lawmaker AKM Mozammel Haque was forced to withdraw his proposals from the Parliament Secretariat, sources concerned said.
In his proposals, he sought repeal of a provision in the bill that made the lawmakers advisers to the parishads and made their suggesyons binding for the local government units.
In the face of fierce opposition from other lawmakers, the AL lawmaker also could not even place another proposal, which was scheduled for being placed in the parliament.
In that proposal, he sought repeal of another standing committee recommendation, which made it mandatory for the panshads to seek suggestions of lawmakers before implementation of development plans.