Law at mercy of lawmakers

The lawmakers in a district are the advisers to the zila parishad. They are only supposed to advise the parishad on discharging its functions, according to the Zila Parishad Act.  

But what three MPs of Natore allegedly did at a recent meeting of the parishad went beyond their jurisdiction.

Sajedur Rahman, administrator of Natore district council, found the "advice" of the lawmakers as “interference” in the functions of the parishad and announced that he would resign in protest.

The parishad held the meeting on October 16 to finalise proposals for annual development and allocate over Tk 5 crore for this.

Ruling Awami League lawmakers Abdul Quddus, Shafiqul Islam Shimul and Abul Kalam Azad demanded 95 percent of the development fund be allocated in line with their proposals, meeting sources said.

The administrator did not agree with their demand. A number of upazila chairmen present at the meeting also raised objection.

The MPs still put pressure on the administrator to accept their proposals.

At one stage, the administrator walked out of the meeting and the upazila chairmen followed suit.

"I had decided to resign because of such interference by the MPs,” Sajedur Rahman told The Daily Star recently.

“Why should I hold the post if I cannot do anything independently?"

He, however, did not quit finally “at the request of some of his well-wishers”.

"They advised me not to resign towards the end of my term," he said.

The parishad could not finalise the development projects on October 16 as the meeting ended abruptly.

It met again the next day. The MPs this time came up with new proposals -- 50 percent of the fund will be spent as per their proposals, 30 percent according to the suggestions of upazila chairmen and 20 percent in line with the administrator's proposals, officials of the parishad said.

The administrator alleged that MPs have been grabbing 50 percent of the development projects illegally for the last three years.

Shariful Islam Ramjan, chairman of Natore Sadar Upazila Parishad, said, MPs cannot submit project proposals; they can only advise the district council (zila parishad). 

"MP's have no voting rights in the district council but they still put illegal pressure on it to get their proposals passed," he told this correspondent.

The Natore MPs denied the allegations against them and accused the administrator of ignoring the law regarding taking advice from them.

Contacted, Abdul Quddus, MP of Natore-1, said that according to the law, the administrator has to finalise projects after holding discussions with MPs. But he never takes their advice.

The lawmaker said they have informed the LGRD ministry about the matter.

Abul Kalam Azad, lawmaker from Natore-4, said there is no question of “percentage” in project distribution.

"The administrator doesn't know which development projects are needed. So MPs have submitted the project proposals," he told The Daily Star recently.

Such allegations of interference by MPs have also been raised in some other districts, including Bogra, Chittagong, Pirojpur and Gazipur, reports our correspondents.

A number of upazila parishad chairmen in Gazipur alleged that the zila parishad gives priority to development proposals placed by MPs of the district.

"We can take part in implementation of development projects prepared by MPs if we have good relations with them," Abdul Jalil, chairman of Sripur upazila, told The Daily Star.

Jalil was elected chairman with the AL backing.

Izadur Rahman, chairman of Gazipur Sadar Upazila Parishad and also a local BNP leader, said they need to maintain good relations with MPs to get allocation for development projects from the zila parishad.

Nazrul Islam, chairman of Nazirpur upazila parishad of Pirojpur, said, "Lawmakers take away most of the annual allocation."

MA Salam, administrator of Chittagong Zila Parishad, said lawmakers' projects get funds more than that of others from the allocations for annual development.