& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Resuscitating upazila parishads

Husain Imam
IF General Ershad in his nine-year military, quasi-military rule did one good thing, it was his introduction of the upazila system. At that time, his critics thought it simply a ploy to consolidate his autocratic rule all over the country, the way Field Marshal Ayub Khan tried by introducing the so-called "Basic Democracy” in the country.
Whatever might have been the intention of General Ershad, the system worked for the better. The Local Government Ordinance 1982, more commonly known as Upazila Panshad Ordinance, was eventually accepted by the people and was considered by many as a major step towards decentralisation of power.
Not that General Ershad's local government system in the name of Upazila Parishad was completely a new concept. In fact local government system of one form or another has been in existence in the subcontinent for centuries. Panchayats, an elected body with executive and judicial power, operated in rural areas of this subcontinent in the early days. But it was never a fully independent body. Often a headman, nominated by the rulers from among the dominant families in the village, controlled the panchayats.
The British who ruled this country for nearly 200 years carried out a number of experiments with the local government system. But all those were intended to serve more of their imperial interest than welfare of the local people. It was however during the British rule, the foundation of a local self-government in rural India was laid through the passage of the Rippon resolution as Bengal Local Self-government Act 1885.
After independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the first significant change in the local government system came through the Local Government Ordinance 1976 introduced by Genera] Zia, the then President of the republic, providing union parishad, thana panshad and zila parishad as semblance of elected bodies. The system did not work the way it should as a local body conceived by our constitution.
It was during the Ershad regime, the upazila parishad, replacing thana parishad and providing the upazila chairman for the first time principal authority in running the affairs of the upazila, brought about a new wave of enthusiasm among the rural people. Direct participation of the local people in the affairs of the upazila increased and economic activities in the rural areas centering the new upazila system got momentum.
It was however unfortunate that after nine years of more or less satisfactory
practice, the upazila system of General Ershad was abolished by BNP after coming to power in 1991. The government of Awami League during 1996-2001 tried to revive the system by constituting a Local Government Commission but could not make much headway because of lack of support from the lawmakers. They were apprehensive of losing their overwhelming control and share of the benefits deriving from the development work of their constituency
Lastly, the issue of strengthening the local governments came up strongly during the two-year long caretaker government (CTG) of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed and under pressure from the civil society and the general public the CTG had to revive the upazila system in 2008 through an ordinance empowering the upazila parishad a truly free and independent local government body directly elected by the people..
Under this new ordinance, election was held in almost all the 480 upazilas of the country on January 22, 2009, in less than a month of the ninth parliamentary election, to elect chairman, vice chairmen and members of each upazila parishad.
When all were set for functioning of the newly elected upazila parishad as a free and independent local body with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, the old issue of power sharing between the local MPs and upazila chairmen once again surfaced. The MPs in fear of losing control over the upazila activities forced the parliament to amend the upazila parishad ordinance of the caretaker government making them (the MPs) as advisers with power to dictate terms in the upazila affairs.
This has created great resentment among the upazila chairmen forcing them to unite and resist the move. They see this Capl Husain Imam is a retired merchant navy officer.