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For those in need or those in power?
DSCC mayor’s discretionary funds mostly benefitting affluent political activists
ASHIK ABDULLAH APU and SAJJAD HOSSAIN
Imdadul Haque Soofi, information and research affairs secretary of Dhaka’s ward-18 unit of Awami League, is a beneficiary of the Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor’s discretionary funds.
He is the editor of a newspaper, while his wife is a grade-11 officer in the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR). His elder son works in a non-government organisation as a communication specialist.
Soofi lives with his four-member family at the BCSIR staff quarters.
Despite being financially solvent, Soofi received Tk 2,00,000 from the mayor’s discretionary fund in September last year.
“I had a very good relationship with the mayor. I was in a financial crisis, which is why I applied for the fund,” Soofi told The Daily Star. His Facebook posts also contain photos of him with DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.
Like him, affluent people and political leaders, including former and incumbent councillors of the city corporation, often become the beneficiaries of the Mayor’s Discretionary Fund in the absence of a guideline, found this newspaper.
Besides, political activists -- mostly affiliated with the ruling party -- are receiving a larger sum than others from the fund, meant for the residents of DSCC who are in financial crisis.
For instance, in March last year, DSCC disbursed Tk 2,90,000 to three persons. Of them, Salahuddin Badal, a member of Dhaka city (south) unit Awami League, received Tk 2 lakh alone.
The city corporation distributed Tk 25 lakh to 42 people in August last year. Six AL leaders got Tk 12 lakh, nearly half of the total amount, according to the DSCC document.
Another instance of affluent political activists receiving funds is Khabir Ahmed, religion affairs secretary of AL’s ward-18 unit, under its New Market thana unit.
He received Tk 1,52,000 from the mayor’s fund in October last year, to pay his daughter’s due tuition fees. He is the co-owner of a publication and owns a flat in Dhaka’s Nilkhet area.
Contacted, Khabir refused to make any comment on the issue and said the matter is “between him and the DSCC mayor”.
Moreover, many of the beneficiaries are residents of the DSCC mayor’s former constituency Dhaka-10. Out of the 311 persons who got the funds between January and December last year, 71 beneficiaries belong to that area.
Convener of Dhanmondi thana unit Krishak League Liton Mollah got Tk 2 lakh for his daughter’s wedding.
Sabina Pervin is a councillor in the reserved seat of ward-9 under DSCC. She received Tk 2 lakh for treatment purposes in August last year.
In her electoral affidavit, she mentioned owning a six-storey building on 1.5 katha land in Kamrangirchar and 30 tola gold.
Contacted, she told this newspaper that she applied for the fund as she was sick and needed it for treatment.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
There are no rules that specify the criteria for those receiving the funds.
Section 75 of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act (2009) mentions that on special purposes -- upon the sanction of allocation by the government -- a mayor could carry out emergency work in the public interest without causing hindrance to the city corporation’s regular activities and spend from the funds allocated for the corporation.
Section 11 of the sixth schedule says rules can be formed on the “Custody, investment, operation, regulation and application of corporation fund; establishment and maintenance of sinking funds [a special fund to pay off loans] and other special funds”.
But no rules have been formulated on the Mayor’s Discretionary Fund.
The current DSCC mayor took the initiative to formulate a policy on the fund on October 27 last year. A draft was placed at a board meeting, but it was not finalised, said officials of the Social Welfare and Slum Development Department of DSCC.
This newspaper could not reach the mayor over the phone. He did not respond to this newspaper’s messages as well.
Contacted, DSCC spokesperson Abu Naser claimed that the authorities have a policy that outlines the criteria for the allocation of funds.