BP Special
Dhaka has become a mess because of continued influx of people from the rural areas in search of livelihood. For the 16.5 crore people they think Dhaka is the only destination. But, because of over-population, city’s transportation and traffic system, water and other utilities have collapsed. At the same time because of unplanned urbanisation city administration finds governance difficult.
Therefore, to save Dhaka, there is no way out without decentralisation of administration. Since Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh, there are some criteria to make Dhaka an international city. This is the emphasis given by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her ‘Vision-2041’. There is a masterplan to make public services more accessible to people living in rural areas.
With a view to making Bangladesh economically prosperous, socially developed and technologically advanced the government has undertaken action plan to implement the vision 2041, which can be compared to the developed world. It can be mentioned here, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman keeping public convenience in mind, had initiated a plan to decentralise the country’s governance system in 1974. He wanted to stop the trend of influx of rural people to Dhaka. He had thought of a well-planned and integrated development throughout the country.
There were only 19 districts at the time of independence and 64 subdivisions. But keeping public convenience in mind, Bangabandhu had recommended the up-gradation of every sub division to district status. He had also divided the country into 64 districts in order to serve the people through decentralisation of power. Bangabandhu also made every district an administrative unit to carry out development work.
On the other hand, former President H M Ershad, who stepped down from office under compelling circumstances in December 1990 in the face of a mass upsurge, introduced the upazila system in 1982. After them, it is only Sheikh Hasina who could realise the need for decentralizing the administrative system of the country.
Hasina’s government has steadfastly tried to strengthen the local government structures ever since it has come to power in 2009. The incumbent government has adopted a master plan and framed a complete layout for housing, hospitals, markets, schools, colleges, university, playgrounds, agricultural farms, industries, and other facilities.
To pursue the decentralisation plan of the governance system, PM Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Jatiya Sangsad that the local administrations would bear the lion’s share of government expenditure at the local level in league with the coordination of the central administration. Good governance and empowering the people will be the driving force behind the overall progress of the country, she opined.
Noting that Bangladesh is gradually getting a strong footing in world economy, Sheikh Hasina said that the flow of investment is increasing gradually and the balance of payment of Bangladesh remains in good position due to high growth in exports and remittances. In this context, the premier said that her government had brought the inflation rate under control and the budget deficit within 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
‘It can be expected that the economic growth will accelerate further in the days to come,’ she opined. “Bangladesh will turn into a developed nation with US$ 16,000 per capita income and poverty will be a matter of distant past in this Sonar Bangla (Golden Bangla) in 2041,” said Sheikh Hasina. In accordance with the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 of the United Nations, Bangladesh was one of the 10 top growth economies in the world in 2018, she said.
Mentionable, the country now has eight administrative divisions. These are Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Sylhet, Rangpur and Mymensingh. As about 49,000 people are currently living in per square kilometre in the capital, making it the world’s most densely populated city, decentralisation of administrative system is urgently needed for reducing the pressure on it through decentralizing the governance system.
A large number of people come to Dhaka city every day in search of work and for availing various facilities in absence of those in their respective divisional cities. But, the capital Dhaka alone cannot take this load. Keeping all this in consideration, the government of Sheikh Hasina has been working to decentralize these facilities, especially health, education, banking and administrative activities to the other metropolitan cities.
The incumbent government has also plans to set up several new divisions to take the decentralisation to the grassroots. As per government plan, all civic facilities will be ensured in the divisional cities and district towns so that the pressure on the capital becomes less.
