Accountable local govt bodies a must for rural uplift, roundtable told

FE Team | Published: July 16, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Speakers at a roundtable Sunday stressed the need for honest and accountable local government system to bring villages to the mainstream of the national economy, reports BSS.
They said good governance and development would not be ensured properly without strengthening the local government bodies.
They were speaking a roundtable on "Making effective and strengthening the local government system' in the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. The citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN)) organised the roundtable. Eminent economist Mozaffar Ahmed moderated it.
Central Coordinator of the SHUJAN Dilip Kumar Sarker presented some recommendations on the local government prepared by the SHUJAN.
Former lawmaker Abdur Razzak, Justice Kazi Ebadul Haque, noted economist Atiur Rahman, Col (retd) Shawkat Ali and Secretary of SHUJAN Badiul Alam Majumder, among others, spoke at the meeting.
Atiur Rahman said reforms in the local government should be considered in the context of Bangladesh to establish effective local bodies.
"Chairmen of union parishads must be elected directly," he said adding that the reforms do not mean to bring total changes in the local government.
Atiur Rahman suggested forming monitoring teams at all levels of the local government for ensuring their transparency and said the teams must be responsible to the ombudsman.
While talking to journalists, Mozaffar Ahmed said, "We have to identify working areas and responsibilities of the local government bodies for establishing good governance to ensure rural development."
In this context, he put emphasis on some areas of the local government, including decentralisation of power, sufficient manpower and woman empowerment.
The discussants suggested making the local government organisations free from influences of the lawmakers and the local administration.
Kazi Ebadul Haque said judges could be appointed to union levels for solving the local problems. They will be under the district judge, he added.