Barman to head DCC North, Mostofa South

The government has appointed 2 new administrators for the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporations (DCC) with the terms of 2 incumbent administrators of the city about to end. The public administration ministry issued a circular notifying the appointments on Thursday. Jute Department’s Director Rakhal Chandra Barman will be in-charge of DCC North, while Md Showkat Mostofa, a special officer attached to the home ministry, is to head DCC South. As per rules, they are supposed hold the posts for 6 months, but the order made no mention of their tenure. When contacted, public administration ministry's Senior Assistant Secretary SM Shafique said: ‘We have appointed them and the local government ministry will decide on the tenure.’ The move comes amid media reports of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordering Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) polls early next year and Election Commission making it clear that it was not yet ready for the exercise. The last time the DCC polls were held was in April, 2002. Its tenure expired five years later in 2007 at the time of the military-backed caretaker government. On November 30, 2011, then Awami League-led 14-party grand alliance government split the DCC in to 2 parts – North and South. Various complications thwarted the efforts made by the 14-party government of 2009-2013 and the Sheikh Hasina-led current regime to hold the long overdue polls to the DCCs, according to private TV channels.