Mayors want more power

There have been certain hitches -- more political perhaps than administrative. The city corporations work under the ministry of LGRD while the utility services work under different ministries. That's why joint collaboration between the utility services and Dhaka City Corporation was initiated during the last government with the minister and the mayor co-heading the committee constituted for the purpose. But due to lack of proper policy guidelines, to say nothing of confusion over the authority of the body, that effort did not work out.

So, we have had the city corporations as elected bodies alright but without the necessary authority and power vested in them. Secondly, if the mayor belongs to the party which is not in the government, as it's been in the past, it creates conflict between the two. Thirdly, and most importantly, all the utility services are legally constituted bodies with specific jurisdictions. Therefore their natural tendency is not to part with power to some other authority but to remain autonomous.

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In such circumstances, the city corporations' work gets impaired; and consequently, the metropolitan dwellers suffer the most. The recent water logging in the city after continuous rain is a prime example of lack of coordination among the utilities. Every year road digging by different utility organisations begins just before the monsoon, no matter how much one decries it for having caused severe disruption in public life.

Such serious points at issue will have to be addressed sooner than later. That's why we think an independent commission should be formed to look at the issue as a whole and devise ways to perfect the system. Other metropolitan cities in South Asia seem to have successfully synchronised the activities of different service delivery organisations. We want the best practice model to be followed.