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The planners stressed that MPs’ roles should remain limited to lawmaking and oversight, without direct involvement in local development planning or implementation.

Referring to a proposal in the current parliamentary session to establish “inspection rooms” for MPs at upazila parishads, BIP Vice President Sheikh Muhammad Mehedi Ahsan said greater direct involvement of lawmakers in development activities blurs the line between legislative and executive functions.

It also weakens administrative neutrality and risks undermining local government institutions, he added.

He cautioned that political differences between MPs and upazila chairpersons could create “dual leadership”, leading to coordination gaps and delays in development work.

BIP General Secretary Prof Mosleh Uddin Hasan proposed forming a “local parliament” at the divisional level to enable coordination between MPs and local representatives.

BIP also recommended holding local government elections promptly, granting upazila parishads full decision-making authority, appointing professional planners at the upazila level and making integrated spatial planning and planned land use mandatory.