1416 chairmen on the run: Tension over removal

Farmer Md Akhtaruzzaman went to the Targa union parishad office of Gazipur’s Kapasia to issue a birth certificate of his child. As the UP has no chairman, an education officer carries out the duty of the administration. Akhtaruzzaman waited for several hours on Thursday morning, but could not meet the official.

Certain Nazim Uddin also went there that day to collect a nationality certificate. He too returned empty-handed. UP administrator and upazila assistant education officer SM Fatema told Prothom Alo over the mobile phone she was busy inspecting schools and could not make time to attend the UP office.

A similar scenario was seen at the remaining union parishads across Kapasila upazila as 11 UP chairmen of the upazila had not come to the union parishad office since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August as they all went into hiding.

According to the local government ministry, 1,416 UP chairmen remain absent from their offices, which is one-third of the total union parishads across the country. Most of these chairmen face murder cases and fear arrest. Some of them avoid going to the office fearing attack.

There are currently 8,580 union parishads across the country and 3,164 chairmen were joining offices, but the number remaining absent could not be ascertained. So, the government is mulling the removal of about 4,500 UP chairmen and members. However the interim government is in a dilemma over the matter since such a large-scale removal will require appoint of numerous administrators. They is concern in the local government ministry about where such a large of officials will come from and whether they can work properly. But no final decision has been reached yet.

Local government experts said it will be more effective to run the union parishad with panel chairmen.

Saying that it would not be right to appoint administrators now, local government expert Tofail Ahmed told Prothom Alo the government at first should service notice to UP chairmen who are absent and set a deadline to join the office. The seat of any chairman who will not follow the rules, will be declared vacant. Then a UP member can be appointed as chairman or a local person having credibility can be made a chairman.

Many UP chairmen went into hiding in various union parishads in Noakhali, Gazipur, Narsingdi, Munsiganj and Feni after 5 August. Some of them face murder, some fear arrest, some are in hiding to escape from attacks. According to ministry sources, local administrators have appointed panel chairmen in 786 union parishads and administrators at several union parishads.

The chairmen of three out of 43 UPs in Feni are joining their offices. One of the three chairmen is from BNP in Sonagazi and the remaining two are from Awami League in Daganbhuiyan while upazila nirbahi officer or assistant commissioner (land) were appointed as administrators in the remaining 43 union parishads

Bangladesh Union Parishad Association said the dissolution of the union parishad or the removal of chairmen would severely disrupt public services at the field level, while chairmen said their removal would deteriorate the law and order situation in rural areas; and theft and robbery would rise. Leaders of the association demanded not to remove the elected chairman and members.

Abdul Mazid is the chairman of the Kursha union in Kaunia upazila in Rangpur. He told Prohtom Alo they want to end their tenure and do not want to be removed now. Removal of chairmen will stall services at the local level, but the government can take action as per the state laws.

According to the Local Government Division, UP chairmen remain directly involved in various services including the distribution of old age allowance, disabled allowance and maternity allowance. UP offices also provide various important services including inheritance certificates, birth certificates, and death registration, as well as hold arbitration, and construct, repair and maintain roads.

Replying to queries on service disruption in the absence of UP chairman, Aminul Islam, secretary of Baniyajan UP in Atpara of Netrokona, told Prothom Alo UP members are providing civic services so their absence will create a crisis.

Several issues came to the fore during an investigation to find out why the issue of removal of people’s representatives was raised.

Firstly, many are aggrieved with the past local government elections. There was neither any competition in those unilateral elections, nor did the opposition got any chance. That is why many people seek removal of the people’s representatives, cancelling the elections.

Secondly, there is pressure from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other political parties on removing the chairmen and members.

Thirdly, nearly 1,500 UP chairmen are absent in their offices. That is why the authorities have been thinking about removing all the chairmen and members to normalise the activities there.

Speaking about the removal, the local government ministry said as many as 54,960 administrators have to be appointed in place of 12 UP members in 4,580 union parishads across the country. The teachers of primary and high schools or government officials at the district and upazila levels could be given charge.

The officials of the local government ministry, however, said it would be tough to run the operations of the union parishads for long this way since they have their own tasks. Actually, nothing fruitful would happen here. It would be better to run the activities with the panel chairman.

Earlier, the interim government removed all the chairman of zilla and upazila parishads and mayors of all the pourashavas in August. Some 12 city corporation mayors, councillors and pourashava councillors also have been removed.

Speaking about the situation, former secretary to the local government ministry, Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan told Prothom Alo, “It would not be a good decision to dissolve the union parishad. This will lead to obstructions in civic services. Those who will be given charges instead of the chairman won’t be able to provide the services to the people.”

He further said the government could remove only those who went into hiding. The tasks could be completed by employing panel chairman in the UPs where the chairmen are not coming to the offices. But no administrator should be appointed.

Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan also remarked that many people seek removal of the UP chairmen as they have questions over the last local government officials and grievances as there were no competitions in the past local government elections. That is why many seek removal of the UP chairmen.

Local government expert Tofail Ahmed also put emphasis on appointing panel chairmen.

Nothing fruitful will happen if government officials are appointed in the union parishads, he stated.

[Local correspondents helped in preparing the report by sending information]