Tall promises made not to be kept

They are promising the sky for the voters. Candidates for the city corporation elections should know that the tall promises made are not only beyond their capacity to deliver but also beyond their jurisdiction. Let alone the councillors, the elected mayors often find themselves heavily strapped to their chair with little scope for manoeuvring, so far as exercise of power is concerned. At best the mayoral candidates can bargain for issues but the real power lies with the various ministries.
There are corporations and agencies which are not accountable to the city corporations. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) of different cities, the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd and the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) are governed by their own rules and regulations. In such utility services, the mayors have hardly any prerogative to intervene. The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (RAJUK) is responsible for overseeing the city area's land use and approval of housing. This too is unlikely to tolerate or entertain any request from the mayor's office for a city plan. For example, a project of metro rail is unlikely to be left to the care of a mayor instead of the ministry concerned. Under the present system, development of infrastructure is none of the mayor's business.
One job, however, is exclusively left to the city corporation's boss. This is the disposal of garbage. Even in that task, its authority to procure covered vehicles for removal of solid garbage is limited. The situation would have been worse still if a few friendly countries did not come forward to donate a number of modern garbage receptacles and carrying vehicles. In the core area of the capital city, over 10 million people live and the fleet assigned to collect the garbage this number of citizens produces on a daily basis is woefully inadequate.
This simply does not do justice to the position of the city fathers. In most modern cities of the world, city government operates mostly independently. They have to look after the wellbeing of the inhabitants of their cities because they are delegated enough power for the purpose. Unless such a system is introduced, it is futile to expect mayors to deliver the goods. If the elected person belongs to the ruling party, s/he may convince his party ministers of the merit of undertaking some development project.
Usually, such programmes are taken up in order to distribute favours to party followers so that they work for the party. In other cases, the mayors just exercise bargaining power for managing trade licences or similar other ventures where money can be made. Local level leaders are usually the beneficiaries.
Like most other local bodies or institutions the mayoral office has been rendered a toothless tiger. But if it is delegated enough power under an institutional policy framework so that it gains the status of a city government, things will definitely change for the better. There will be no lack of coordination in providing utility services as well as digging the roads for such purposes. Only then will the mayoral candidates sound convincing in pledging to present for them a 'green or modern city.' But the good thing is that the candidates have not stooped low for once to hurl any language derogatory to their rivals.