Newly-elected Mayors of 4 city corpns take oath

Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed Tuesday administered the oath of office to the four newly elected mayors of Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet City Corporations, reports bdnews24.comUNB.brMayor of Khulna Talukder Abdul Khaleq, Mayor of Rajshahi AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, Mayor of Barisal M Shawkat Hossain Hiron and Mayor of Sylhet Badruddin Ahmed Kamran took the oath from head of the Caretaker Government Fakhruddin Ahmed at a brief and simple ceremony at 1107 am at the LGED conference room in the city Tuesday.brThe four newly elected mayors wore black Mujib Coat.brLocal Government Division secretary Sheikh Khurshid Alam conducted the oath-taking function, organised by the Local Government Division under the LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry.brAfter administering the oath, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin shook hands with the four mayors and took group photo with them.brAs per the rules, the newly elected representatives of the local government need to take oath within 30 days of publication of gazette notification after the elections.brThe four newly-elected mayors won the polls held on August 4. Kamran, who ran the polls from behind bars, secured bail on Sept 4. brThe Election Commission gazetted the results on August 12. All the mayors-elect gave up their party posts in line with legal stipulation. brAfter the mayors took oaths, 157 councillors of the four city corporations were sworn by local government adviser M Anwarul Iqbal. brOf them two detained councillors-elect took oath after they had been freed on parole from Dhaka Central Jail. They are Sylhet City Corporation councilor-elect Jagadish Chandra Das and Khulna City Corporation councilor-elect Golam Maula Shanu. brBefore attending the ceremony the four mayor-elects spoke to reporters. brKhulna mayor-elect Talukder Abdul Khaleq said The government should respect the demands of the political parties for holding national elections. There is no reason to hold other polls ahead of national elections, slated for December. brMany political parties including the Awami League and BNP have been pressing the Election Commission for holding parliamentary polls before other polls.brSylhet mayor-elect Kamran said We want every poll to be held. But I think people are waiting eagerly for national elections. brAn elected government is more convenient for a proper work environment, said the mayor, who was freed from jail recently. brI have respect for the law. I believe that the charges against me would be resolved through legal procedure. brKamran said that he would work to turn Sylhet into a tourist city.brRajshahi mayor-elect Liton said People want national elections prior to all other polls. I don't have any other scope here to take a different stance. brWe want a political government, as we will feel comfortable to work under an elected government, Liton said. brWe want to work transparently and hope the government will not be hostile. brBarisal mayor-elect Hiron said The Upazila polls should be held later. It is more convenient to work under an elected government. brThey pledged to work to resolve problems related to roads, drainage and water logging in their cities. brAsked to comment on the views of the mayors that national elections should be held first, adviser Iqbal said I don't think the mayors are right. brWhile holding dialogues at different regions we noticed that people wanted local government elections first, he said. brOn the position of the government about the Upazila polls the adviser said The Election Commission will decide it. If it wants to hold the [Upazila] elections, the government will support it. brWe are ready to support the Election Commission, Iqbal added.