Strengthening local govt institutions emphasised

GAIBANDHA, June 3 (BSS): Speakers at a meeting here on Tuesday underlined the importance of strengthening the local government institutions for the sake of institutionalisation of democracy.
"Emphasis should also be given to taking necessary measures for ensuring transparency and accountability side by side with establishing good governance by involving the people in local government bodies," they said.
They made the comments while addressing a district half-yearly coordination meeting of Second Local Governance Support Project (LGSP-2) in the conference room of the district Collectorate Building here.
Local government section of the deputy commissioner (DC) office here arranged the meeting with DC M. Ehsan-e-Elahi in the chair while deputy director (DD) of the section M. Moklesur Rahman was the moderator.
The meeting was also addressed, among others, by DD of department of agriculture extension AKM Ruhul Amin, DD of department of family planning Dewan Morshed Kamal, district livestock officer Abdul Latif, acting Sadar Upazila Chairman Rashida Begum and Sadar UNO Ashraful Momin Khan.
Terming the grassroots institutions as a symbol of hopes and aspirations of the rural people, the speakers said the nation could not be reached to its cherished goal of success by keeping the grassroots institutions neglected.
M. Ehsan-e-Elahi in his speeches said the government has put maximum emphasis on empowering the local government body so that it could be turned into a focal point of all development activities and public service providers at grassroots level.
Earlier, district facilitator Arun Darshi Chakma presented the objectives of the project and its ongoing development work in the 82 unions under seven upazilas of the district through multimedia projector.
Almost all the district level officials, upazila chairmen, union parishad chairman, social workers, NGO activists and journalists attended the meeting.