What fate awaits the municipalities?

Earlier this month, the chief of the Local Government Reform Commission Professor Tofail Ahmed suggested the abolition of municipalities (pourashavas) in the country.  

According to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, there are currently 330 municipalities in Bangladesh, and more than 30,000 officials are employed in these municipalities. 

According to the law, the government pays a part of the salaries and allowances of municipal officials, while the remaining is to be paid from the municipality's own income.

Professor Tofail Ahmed said that there are more than a 100 municipalities in the country that are unable to pay salaries, which is why all those municipalities are practically inactive.

"There are no less than a hundred municipalities that are completely financially dysfunctional. There is a plan to assess and recommend abolition of municipalities that are not functioning."

The Local Government Reform Commission has yet to present the final recommendation, which will take into account the opinions of 49,000 people across the country. The commission is planning to submit the final report to the interim government on 24 February.

"Take the Singair pourashava in Manikganj for example. Singair upazila, union and pourashava — all three are situated in the range of half a mile. The pourashava forcefully took the union parishad office and made it their office. We are talking about these dysfunctionalities that need to be addressed." Professor Tofail Ahmed, chief, Local Government Reform Commission

Dr Sadik Hasan, professor at the Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, said, "What is happening currently is that the municipalities that earn more receive more allowance from the government than the municipalities with lower earnings, which is unreasonable. It was supposed to be the opposite." 

This is why reform is necessary in this sector. 

Also, according to the Local Government (Municipality) Act 2009, some conditions must be met for an area to be considered a municipality or a pourashava. Article 3 of the act says, if three-fourths of the people are engaged in non-agricultural occupations, 33% of the land is non-agricultural in nature, population density not less than 2.000 per square kilometre on an average and the population is less than 50,000, the area can be defined as a municipality.

"Not all of the municipalities fulfil this condition," says Professor Sadik. 

"Take the Singair pourashava in Manikganj for example. Singair upazila, union and pourashava — all three are situated in the range of half a mile. The pourashava forcefully took the union parishad office and made it their office. We are talking about these dysfunctionalities that need to be addressed," Tofail Ahmed said. 

They are currently making a list of such municipalities before they submit the report. 

Dissolving a municipality is not illegal or unprecedented. Article 11 of the act says that the government may, by notification in the official gazette, declare a municipality to be dissolved if any municipality has failed to comply with the conditions or provisions set out in the act. And the liability of the assets of such dissolved municipalities shall be determined by the government.

However, Professor Sadik believes that dissolving any of the local governing bodies will deteriorate the law and order of the areas. According to him, after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, the chairmen have been removed from all posts of the local government city corporation, municipality, upazila and district councils. Currently, many people are suffering while taking services from these institutions. 

"Also a lot of people are employed in the municipalities. Dissolving these institutions means that these people will become jobless. So, the commission should think before they take any decision," Dr Sadik said. 

Professor Tofail Ahmed also said that the reform commission feels that these municipalities cannot be dissolved suddenly. "We are still discussing this matter, that after abolition, whether they should be assimilated into unions or upazilas," he said. 

Why are municipalities needed?

According to the third part of the Local Government (Municipality) Act 2009, there are more than 20 responsibilities that a municipality has to take care of. 

The primary responsibilities of our existing municipalities are to provide all kinds of civic benefits, coordinate between municipal administration and government officials and employees, implement urban development plans including infrastructural development, building control, and to maintain public safety and order.

Other than these, Article 50 of the act adds that a municipality will take care of the supply of water for residential, industrial and commercial use, water and sewage disposal, waste management, construction of roads, footpaths, terminals for public transport, passenger and cargo facilities, and birth and death registration. 

The list also adds planning of traffic management, provision of passenger canopies, road lights, vehicle parking spaces and bus stands or bus stops for the convenience of pedestrians, civil health and environment maintenance, planting and maintenance, establishment and management of markets and butcher houses, etc. 

But these activities could have been implemented by the central government or the zila and union parishads. Why do we need municipalities?

"Before British rule, most of the land was very rural, with some towns. Panchayats were functional institutions of grassroots governance in almost every village. To rule the land more effectively, the British decided to establish a local government system," said Professor Sadik Hasan.

The Bengal Municipal Act of 1884 was passed during the viceroyalty of Lord Ripon. It consolidated various previous laws on this subject. The Act was applicable to Bengal, Orissa and Assam. 

For the creation of a new municipality, the urban area concerned was required to have at least three-fourths of its adult members engaged in professions other than agriculture. The number of commissioners varied from nine to 30. Two-thirds were to be elected and one-third to be appointed by the government. 

"More than an administrative decision, municipalities were built for economic reasons. When an area is declared to be a municipality with urban facilities, the price of the land increases, you will have to pay holding tax, mills and factories will be built in the area, etc," said Professor Sadik. 

This generates tax, as well as protects the farm lands at the union parishad level. 

However, the problem in present Bangladesh is that many union parishads have been changed into municipalities in just name — their characteristics have not changed. 

According to Professor Sadik, there is a power struggle among the Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) and the Deputy Commissioners. "The UNOs are probably heads of 52 committees and the DC heads more than 100 committees. But the municipality mayors have very little say in the decision-making process," he said.

"As you can see, the real people's representatives cannot take part in the development process. This is why a reform is needed in this sector," he added.