Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury has been issued a notification by the cabinet department with the status of state minister.
Minister of State status has been determined in the notification signed by Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam on Monday.
Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, joint secretary of Chattogram Metropolitan Awami League, who got the status of state minister, got the status of state minister within a year and a half after he was elected mayor. Rezaul was elected mayor on 27 January 2021. Took oath on February 11.
In the same notification, the mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation Atiqul Islam and the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation Sheikh Fazle Nur Tapas have been given the status of minister and the mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation Selina Hayat Ivy has been given the status of state minister. Earlier Jatiya Party leader Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury got the status of state minister as mayor of Chattogram. He was elected the first mayor of Chattogram in 1989. Another mayor supported by BNP Mir Nasir Uddin got the status of state minister. ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who was elected Mayor of Chattogram City Corporation on 14 October 2002 during the second term of the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, was also given the rank of State Minister. The Awami League government continued that.
After Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Manjur Alam of BNP and AJM Nasir Uddin of Awami League became mayor of Chittagong City. None of the two got ministerial rank. The people of Chittagong were disappointed with this. Prominent people were openly angry because the Awami League government did not give that status to CCC Mayor Nasir, especially considering the geographical, political, economic and demographic aspects.
The demand to increase the authority of the Mayor to coordinate with various service organizations for the sake of Chattogram's development has been for a long time. The mayor must be given the status of minister or state minister. Or other service agencies ignore the Mayor's orders. The rank of heads of those organizations is equal to that of mayors (Additional Secretary). As a result, even though the mayor called the coordination meeting, the heads of the related organizations sent a representative from the lower level without attending. Therefore, the stakeholders do not see the option of increasing the rank of CCC Mayor to increase the authority over the service organizations.
Mayor Rezaul himself spoke about the issue after being elected. He said, 'My point is clear, the service organizations who are negligent should be held accountable. Many meetings have been held, but no effective service has been received. The mayor should have executive powers.'
The decision of the President is required to give this status to anyone other than the Minister, Minister of State and Deputy Minister of the Government. Before that, however, the recommendation of the Prime Minister is needed in this regard. If the Prime Minister recommends mayors to be given the rank of Ministers, Ministers of State or Deputy Ministers, the President will take the decision.
It is known that according to the Ministers and Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers (Remuneration and Privileges) Act, 1973, mayors with the rank of ministers will get Tk 1 lakh 5 thousand, mayors with the rank of state ministers will get Tk 92 thousand and mayors with the rank of deputy ministers will get Tk 86 thousand 500. This honorarium is tax free. Apart from this they will get government accommodation. If government accommodation is not available, stay in a rented house and all the bills of that house will be paid by the government.
According to law, they have to provide accommodation for security guards in their homes. At the end of the term, the canopies built to house the security guards (if there is a rented house or any other arrangement) will be removed. Ministers, Ministers of State and Mayors holding the rank of Deputy Ministers will also receive allowances for official travel within the country or abroad.