Facilities of city corporations' councilors being increased by manifold

The government is going to increase the facilities of the councilors of 12 city corporations by manifold ahead of the national election likely to be held at the end of this year.

The decision has been taken at a time when the government is stressing on maintaining austerity to deal with the economic crisis.

Observers said the initiative is being taken to make the councilors happy as they will be used by the government for different purposes in the election year.  

The councilors of the city corporations currently receive Tk 35,000 per month as honourarium, which will be increased to Tk 50,000. Allowances given for their office rent and management will also be raised by Tk 14,000.

According to that, the government will have to spend an additional around Tk 60 million per month for 172 councilors, including 43 women reserved ones, of the two city corporations in Dhaka.     

The sources concerned said Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) sent a proposal to the local government division (LGD) in 2021 over increasing the monthly honourarium and other allowances of the city corporation councilors.

The committee, which was formed headed by the additional secretary of LGD to look into the proposal, submitted their recommendations to the ministry to reevaluate the councilor's allowances.

Last year in August, the LGD sent the recommendation to the finance division, seeking their opinions in this regard. The finance division sought clarifications of 11 issues from the committee.

Later, the committee collected the information from the city corporations concerned and made a holistic report, which they will send to the finance division. 

The meeting of the allowance fixing committee was held on 12 January in which DSCC secretary Akramuzzaman said currently the revenue income of the city corporation has increased. That's why they won't face any problem if the allowances of the councilors are raised by the proposed rate.     

The councilors of all 12 city corporations in the country receive the same honourarium, at Tk 35,000. The committee recommended increasing the amount by Tk 15,000.

Besides, another recommendation has been made to double the honourarium for attending the meeting to Tk 1000.

The committee has proposed to increase the office rent allowance, paying to the councilors of the two city corporations in Dhaka, by 150 per cent to Tk 20,000 while the hike by 200 per cent to Tk 15,000 for the other city corporations.

Besides, a proposal has been placed to give Tk 6,000 monthly to the councilors to manage their offices, which is now Tk 4,000 for the two city corporations in Dhaka and Tk 2,000 for the remaining 10.

The additional secretary of LGD, Mustakim Billah Faruki, said the status of councilors of 12 city corporations are identical. That's why they will receive the same amount as honourarium.

However, the allowance for the office rent has been varied in terms of the locations. The salary and the allowances are being reevaluated keeping several issues of the city corporations, including budget, in mind.   

The councilors and the mayors of the city corporations enjoy more facilities than the representatives of the union parishad (UP).

The UP members have long been demanding to increase their salary and allowances. But the government is reevaluating the salary and allowances of the city corporation's representatives, triggering outcry among those of the UP.   

A UP member currently gets Tk 8,000 per month as honourarium, of which Tk 4,400 from the parishad and Tk 3,600 from the government. But many UP members only receive the government share, at Tk 3,600. They claimed the parishad doesn't pay the full honourarium to them, showing several reasons, including less revenue collection.  

The UP representatives have been pressing their demands home to the government for a long time to raise the salary of chairman to Tk 40,000 and the members to Tk 20,000.   

Union Parishad Forum joint secretary and the chairman of Kaliya Haripur union at Sirajganj sadar upazila, Sabur Ali Sheikh, told Prothom Alo that "The chairmen and the members are being dishonoured in the name of honourarium . The allowances of those who currently receive more than us are being increased. The situation has been created because the government labels the UP chairmen and the members as weaker ones."   

A gazette was issued on 10 January in 2017 over the increase of honourarium and allowances of the representatives of the city corporation, zila parishad, upazila, pourashava and union parishad.

But this time the government is only re-fixing the facilities for the representatives of the city corporation.  

Mohsin Ali, the coordinator of Governance Advocacy Forum, which works with the local government, told Prothom Alo that there are several mechanisms in the election year. Since the councilors will be used for different purposes, there is a matter of making them happy by increasing the facilities.

The UP representatives are overlooked by the government. The demands of city corporation's representatives are met as they are more powerful than those of UP, he added.

* This report appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by NH Sajjad