PM defends govt move to split DCC

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Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina Sunday defended her government's move to split the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) into two parts, saying that this would ensure proper services to its dwellers, reports UNB. She made the remarks during the oath taking ceremony of the newly elected Mayor and Councilors of the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) at PM's Office in the city. The PM sworn in Mayor Dr. Selina Hayat Ivy, while Local Government and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam sworn in the councilors. "Actually, the Dhaka City once was up to Dhaka Gate and Bangla Academy. Now it has expanded up to Uttara. Gulshan was just a village. The city population is growing fast. We have to ensure the facilities for all. That's why we're going for two city corporations." Hasina said that Old Dhaka would be one part while New Dhaka would be another. "A bill in this connection has been placed in Parliament," she said. The PM also said that the city had now expanded up to Narayanganj in the Southeast while up to Tongi in the north. Amid the growing of population of the city, the government has divided the police administration into eight zones to ensure proper services. On Wednesday, the government placed a Bill in Parliament to divide the DCC. Once the bill is passed, the current DCC will be dissolved instantly, and the corporation will be split into two-DCC North and DCC South. An administrator will be appointed for each of the two new corporations to run the activities until those are constituted through elections, according to provisions of the bill. Polls in the new corporations will have to be held within six months as per the provisions of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009. The 150-sqm mega city has 92 wards. The proposal envisages that DCC north will get 36 wards (1-23, 37-47, 54 and 55), while DCC south will have 56 wards (24-36, 48-53 and 56-92).