Upazila polls evade issues at heart of local governance

The country is embracing another local government election even as the two tiers of the local government body — Zilla parishad and upazila parishad — remain completely dysfunctional.
The upazila parishad has become dysfunctional owing to a power conflict between the upazila parishad chairmen and MPs. On the other hand, the Zilla parishad fails to perform as expected due to its unelected administrator, as well as conflict with the MPs of the district.
Experts say reforms to rules and regulations are needed to resolve the crisis, and the stakeholders demanded the government’s goodwill in this regard, as the government’s indecision over making the two bodies vital to local development functional is part of the problem, according to a news agency.