Municipalities a total mess

A lack of discipline in spending and hiring employees is the main reason behind the piling up of Tk 692 crore in salary arrears at municipalities across the country, a government committee has found. 

In a report, it recommended that the government give an allocation of Tk 346 crore, half the total arrears, for the employees as an immediate solution.

The committee was formed by the LGRD and cooperatives ministry in March last year after municipality employees launched protests demanding their arrears. The report, which includes a set of recommendations, was submitted on April 16.

According to an expert, the absence of good governance and legal weaknesses regarding local government are to blame for what he said has become a “humanitarian crisis” now.

Since July 14, municipality employees have been staging an indefinite sit-in in front of the Jatiya Press Club, also demanding regular payment from state coffers.

More than 35,000 employees of 260 municipalities have not received salaries for up to seven years.

Of them, some 6,000 staffers have been without salaries for five years, around 12,000 for two years and another 5,000 for a year, show the latest statistics of Bangladesh Association of Paurasava Services (BAPS).

Besides, some 964 retired employees have not received any pensions. The amount of unpaid pension is TK 120 crore.

VIOLATIONS

Not only is there a “lack of discipline” in recruitment and revenue spending, many of the municipalities were created in direct violation of law.

Abdul Alim Mollah, president of BAPS, which is organising the ongoing demonstration, said, “At least 50 percent of the municipalities have not met the criteria set by the law.”

According to the Local Government (Municipality) Act2009, a rural area can be declared a municipality only when it meets four conditions -- three fourths of the area’s population are involved in non-agricultural professions, 33 percent of its land is used for non-agricultural production, its population density is not less than 1,500 per sq km, and the population size exceeds 50,000.

Rules were violated also in upgrading municipalities. 

There are three categories of municipalities -- “Ka” with a maximum number of 185 employees, “Kha” with 108 and “Ga” with 85. Upgradation of a municipality is not legally possible if employees’ dues are not cleared.

But in case of Shantahar, it became a category “Ka” municipality in July 2017, though it had 52 months’ arrears to pay. Currently, it has 162 employees with 65 months of arrears.

Besides, anomalies were found also in appointment of staffers.

In Raipur municipality in Laxmipur, 17 people were appointed around ten months ago.

The Daily Star has received allegation of bribery of different amounts, from Tk 5 lakh to 10 lakh, for each of the appointments. And none of them have got any salaries so far. 

Ismail Khokon, mayor of Raipur municipality, dismissed the allegation and said, “No incident of bribery took place here. If there is any proof, I will accept due punishment.”

Talking about bribery in municipality recruitment, Mozahidul Islam Tusher, spokesperson of BAPS, said, “This is common everywhere; you know there is crisis of employment across the country and people need jobs.”

But Rafiqul Islam Kotoal, secretary general of Mayor Association of Bangladesh, says, “It should not be the case. Each appointment is made through tests taken by a committee that includes a representative from the District Commissioner’s Office.”

Local government expert Prof Tofail Ahmed criticised the entire process of setting up of municipalities and hiring employees.

“They [the authorities concerned] have appointed people after declaring a village or a paddy field as a municipality without criteria being met,” he said.

“First of all, those who have made appointments without arranging funds are liable. It’s a criminal offence.”

He also doubts whether the municipality organograms were endorsed duly.

INDISCIPLINE IN SPENDING

The committee, led by Additional Secretary of Local Government Division (LGD) Mahbub Hossain, took statements from seven divisional commissioners, representatives of the municipalities, and employees.

It found that most of the municipalities failed to increase their income in accordance with the new government pay scale announced in 2015. There is a Tk 31 crore annual deficit in the aggregate income of the municipalities.

About the deficit, Rafiqul Islam Kotoal of Mayor Association of Bangladesh said, “Salaries of the staffers have risen after implementation of the new pay scale in 2015; but income of the municipalities has not increased.”

In the committee’s observation, the total annual aggregate income of the 327 municipalities stands at Tk 1,202 crore while spending at Tk 1,233 crore.

But annual salaries and allowances account for only Tk 836 crore, which is lower than the total income. So, a massive amount of arrears “proves that there was a lack of discipline in revenue spending”.

“When mayors ask a certain staff to give cash for any work, he or she cannot but obey mayor’s order. But it should not be the process,” said Tusher of BAPS.

But Kotoal doesn’t think mayors spend revenues without maintaining procedure. “I had discussion with other mayors. They don’t do this.”

On arrears before 2015, he said, “Most of the municipalities have very little income because they were declared municipalities without conditions being fulfilled.”

The revenue of a municipality comes from holding tax and lease on local markets. It also gets two percent of the amount realised as land tax.

Observing that citizens are often found reluctant to pay municipality bills, Prof Tofail said, “Why should people pay when there is no service from the municipality?”

INDISCIPLINE IN HIRING 

The committee report says there are 34,415 employees in 327 out of the total 328 municipalities in the country, and about 63 percent of them were hired on contractual basis or on muster roll. Administrative operations of one municipality is yet to begin due to legal tangles.

“So many employees on contractual or on muster roll clearly proves that there was a huge lack of discipline in hiring,” it observed.

Those hired on muster roll are daily wage workers.

The LGD directly appoints class I and II employees, and municipalities can hire class III and IV employees on their own, with approval of the division.

According to the law, there should be highest 3,042 representatives in 328 municipalities. But the committee revealed that there are 3,357 in reality.

SOLUTION?

Talking about the ongoing protests, Tofail said the current problem involving the lives of more than 34,000 employees has snowballed into a “humanitarian crisis”.

It is not logical to force the government to pay the arrears, he said, but the employees should be paid their arrears on a humanitarian ground as a temporary measure.

As per the law, the government provides a municipality with 0.04 percent of salaries for its staffers. The municipality has to arrange the rest from revenue earnings.

For a permanent solution, according to Prof Tofail, the entire local government system should be re-organised.

“You will see different tiers of administration -- the local bureaucracy, zila parishad, upazila parishad, municipality, and union parishad. Their responsibilities often overlap,” he said.

He suggested that the government form a commission to work out a permanent solution. “A temporary solution is not a solution at all.”

According to the expert, the commission should assess the existing situation and, if necessary, recommend sizing down of the municipality workforce through “golden handshakes.”

Rafiqul Islam Kotoal urged the ministry to reach a solution as early as possible, “because municipalities are facing problems to maintain daily cleaning and other routine activities across the country.”

WHAT THE MINISTER SAYS

Although the committee submitted its report on April 16, LGD Minister Tajul Islam on Sunday said he was not aware of the report yet. “I haven’t received the report yet. So, I can’t make any comment before I read it,” he told The Daily Star by phone.

Asked if he had a formal meeting with the demonstrating employees, he replied in the negative “They just met me informally. We have to work out a solution as per the law.”

About re-organisation of local government bodies, the minister said, “A law cannot be changed repeatedly. It will need actual grounds.”

The Daily Star tried to reach the minister again yesterday for comments about the report. But he didn’t respond to the calls.