Fund crisis hinders BCC activities
Sunday, 17 June 2007
BARISAL, June 16 (UNB): The administrative activities of Barisal City Corporation (BCC) have virtually come to a halt due to fund crisis following the arrest of Mayor Majibor Rahman Sarwar.
Mayor Sarwar, former lawmaker and district BNP president, was arrested from his residence in Dhaka on May 29 and sent to jail with one-month detention under the Special Powers Act.
After Sarwar's arrest, the authorities are yet to select any eligible person to discharge the duties of the mayor.
BCC has 1,193 regular and daily-wage basis employees, including 11 class-I, 17 class-II, 282 class-III and 171 class-IV employees, 265 labourers and 217 sweepers.
About Tk 3.70 million is needed for their salaries per month but they are not getting their salaries since April due to the fund crisis.
Altaf Hossain Sikdar, commissioner of Ward-21 and head of the finance sub-committee of the corporation, said the crisis intensified after the banks refused payments against the cheques signed by Mayor Sarwar before his arrest.
Now another problem has arisen here as the financial year would be over within next two weeks but there is none to prepare the next year's budget for the BCC.
Moreover, Sikdar added, a huge amount of funds, including Tk 80 million grants from Annual Development Programme (ADP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) would have to be returned if the money couldn't be utilised by June 21.
Meanwhile, an order has been issued for the transfer of BCC Chief Administrative Officer Abdul Mannan.
Abdul Mannan said he has not yet received the transfer order and expressed the hope that the acting mayor of the BCC would be selected on an emergency basis before his transfer.
Mayor Sarwar, former lawmaker and district BNP president, was arrested from his residence in Dhaka on May 29 and sent to jail with one-month detention under the Special Powers Act.
After Sarwar's arrest, the authorities are yet to select any eligible person to discharge the duties of the mayor.
BCC has 1,193 regular and daily-wage basis employees, including 11 class-I, 17 class-II, 282 class-III and 171 class-IV employees, 265 labourers and 217 sweepers.
About Tk 3.70 million is needed for their salaries per month but they are not getting their salaries since April due to the fund crisis.
Altaf Hossain Sikdar, commissioner of Ward-21 and head of the finance sub-committee of the corporation, said the crisis intensified after the banks refused payments against the cheques signed by Mayor Sarwar before his arrest.
Now another problem has arisen here as the financial year would be over within next two weeks but there is none to prepare the next year's budget for the BCC.
Moreover, Sikdar added, a huge amount of funds, including Tk 80 million grants from Annual Development Programme (ADP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) would have to be returned if the money couldn't be utilised by June 21.
Meanwhile, an order has been issued for the transfer of BCC Chief Administrative Officer Abdul Mannan.
Abdul Mannan said he has not yet received the transfer order and expressed the hope that the acting mayor of the BCC would be selected on an emergency basis before his transfer.