Guimara upazila office works from a room of the union parishad

Even after four years of the declaration of Khagrachari's Guimara as an upazila, no separate building has been constructed for it. All the administrative activities of the upazila are being conducted in the office of the union parishad.

A single room in the union parishad has been allocated to house the various offices of the upazila administration. Moreover, there is no visible activity at such important offices as the upazila health complex, primary education and agricultural extension owing to the dire lack of rooms. As a result, people have remained deprived of the required services. Since Guimara was upgraded to an upazila, 80 thousand people inhabiting Guimara 3 No. union have not received any facilities they are entitled to as part of the upazila.

Local people have complained that they are deprived of services as there is no office for the upazila parishad.

Shudristy Chakma, Upazila Fisheries Officer said, "We have to do all departmental work in a single room. As a result, we are not able to maintain the confidentiality necessary in carrying out such responsibilities."

Beauty Tripura, woman vice-chairman of the upazila, said, "We do not have any office where we can sit and work. Since I was elected, I have not had any room and cannot provide any service to the people. We are compelled to work by finding space in other offices." 

Due to the lack of rooms for administrative activities, the activities of different important offices of the upazila, banks and other financial offices have been hampered, she added. 

For their part, sources at the Guimara Upazila Local Government Engineering Department said the process of land acquisition for upazila bhaban is under process.

Besides, they noted that the offices of the One House One Farm project, secondary education and upazila Ansar and VDP are doing their administrative work in rented accommodation. 

Tushar Ahmed, Guimara Upazila Nirbahi Officer, said, "The activities of Guimara upazila administration began on November 30, 2015. Since then, we have been providing services like other officers, though there were some limitations at the beginning. However, due to a lack of space for offices, local representatives and officers cannot perform their duties. 

He was hopeful that the construction of the upazila bhaban would start soon. 

In his comments on the situation, Ushepru Marma, chairman of Guimara upazila parishad, said, "We do not have any office. The acquisition process of 6 acres of land is under process. Tk16 crore is required for the acquisition of the land. As the money has not been allotted yet, construction has not begun." 

Some land-related problems have led to a delay in the acquisition of the land to house the upazila office. "We have informed the ministry concerned regarding the issue. We hope the allocation will be disbursed in this fiscal year," said Marma. ***