& 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

DCC polls not in sight

AL wants to hold polls to all local govt bodies, but no timeframe yet for DCC; EC waits for govt green signal

Hasan Jahid Tusher and Pankaj Karmakar
The Awami League government does not seem to want polls to Dhaka city corporations held anytime soon for some unexplained reason.
Soon after assuming office on January 12, the government has taken measurers to see upazila elections start from next month, but it said nothing specific about when Dhaka city corporations would go to polls, due for seven long years.
The last city polls were held in 2002 in which BNP-backed Sadeque Hossain Khoka became mayor. When his tenure ended, the elections could not be held due to the state of emergency that was in force then.
In 2011, four years after his tenure ended, the government removed Khoka, split the corporation into two, and appointed administrators.
Local government experts had suggested that the government go for a complete overhaul of the DCC structure to ensure good governance.
However, things have not gone well since. Dhaka was ranked the least liveable city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit a few days ago.
Failing to hold the "non-partisan" elections earlier, the Election Commission wanted to hold the polls on May 24, 2012, but a court verdict on voter list update put a stop to that.
In May last year, the High Court had cleared the way for the polls, but the Local Government Division of the LGRD ministry issued a gazette notification expanding the boundary of Dhaka South City Corporation.
The EC then asked the Local Government Division to revise the demarcation. But the division took to dragging their feet over the matter, forcing the EC to ditch its plans for the polls and go ahead with national election instead.
Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz on Wednesday told The Daily Star, "How can we hold the election if the LGRD ministry does not create necessary grounds and complete boundary demarcation?"
However, sources point to different reasons for the government's foot-dragging despite the Awami League Central Working Committee deciding on Saturday that all local body elections would be held gradually.
Sources at the EC and Local Government Division told The Daily Star that the government had not given them the go-ahead for the polls for some explained reason.
Local government experts think the elections are not being held for political reasons.
BNP says the Awami League does not want the polls to be held, as it fears a humiliating defeat for the mayoral candidate it would back.
Refuting it, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif claimed the party had a number of potential candidates who could become mayor.
Requesting anonymity, a former top official of the LGD told The Daily Star that a few ruling party leaders actually do not want the elections at all.
The official claimed the influential leaders lobby for halting the polls as the status quo helps their businesses and benefits them financially.
Local government expert Tofael Ahmed said the problems facing the capital city are massive, and only elections to the city corporations are never going to solve those. It would take a lot more than polls to bring the city back to a decent shape.
"The government must think about this seriously as Dhaka has already become a failed city and the least liveable one in the world," he said.
The governance in Bangladesh would not be good unless good city governance is ensured, he said.
xHe claimed that even if elections were held, problems like traffic jams would remain. Coordination between the 52 service providers in the city must be ensured, he added.