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Lecture 15 (B) Local Government in Bangladesh

Local government in Bangladesh is organized into 4 tiers - divisions, districts, sub-districts, and rural/municipal councils. The country is divided into 8 divisions which are further divided into 64 districts, each administered by a Deputy Commissioner. Districts contain sub-districts called upazilas governed by an Upazila Nirbahi Officer. The lowest level is union councils and municipalities which administer specific rural areas and cities.

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26 views

Lecture 15 (B) Local Government in Bangladesh

Local government in Bangladesh is organized into 4 tiers - divisions, districts, sub-districts, and rural/municipal councils. The country is divided into 8 divisions which are further divided into 64 districts, each administered by a Deputy Commissioner. Districts contain sub-districts called upazilas governed by an Upazila Nirbahi Officer. The lowest level is union councils and municipalities which administer specific rural areas and cities.

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nilaparajita
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Local government in Bangladesh

There are 8 divisions and 64 districts in Bangladesh, each district further


subdivided into upazila (subdistricts). The area within each subdistrict,
except for those in metropolitan areas, is divided into several unions,
with each union consisting of multiple villages. Direct elections are held
for each union (or ward), electing a chairperson and a number of
members. In 1997, a parliamentary act was passed to reserve three seats
(out of 12) in every union for female candidates.
In Bangladesh the rural and regional local government have four tiers:

 Divisional administration
 District administration
 Sub-district administration
 Rural, Municipal and City councils
Divisional administration

The Divisional Commissioner is the administrative head of a division.


The Divisional Commissioner is appointed by the government from a
Senior secretary of the B.C.S. Administration Cadre. The role of a
Divisional Commissioner's office is to act as the supervisory head of all
the government Offices (except the central government offices) situated
in the division. Divisional Commissioners are given the direct
responsibility of supervising the revenue and development
administration of a division. The Divisional Commissioner is assisted by
the several Additional Divisional Commissioners, Assistant Divisional
Commissioners and other bureaucratic officials.
District administration

District Council (or Zila Parishad) is a local government body at the


district level. The Bengali word parishad means council and zila
parishad translates to district council. The Deputy Commissioner
(popularly abbreviated to "DC") is the executive head of the district.
The Deputy Commissioner is appointed by the government from a Joint
secretary of the B.C.S. Administration Cadre. But Zila Parishad has a
different setup from the DC office. Currently, the Chairman of each
District Council is an appointee from the Central Government. An
officer ranked Deputy Secretary works as the Chief Executive of the
council. The District Council, being the highest tier of Local
Government, is supposed to be an autonomous and the supreme body to
look after the overall development activities in district level. But in
practice, it is merely a setup confined with few charitable works.
Sub-District administration
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO, or Upazila Executive Officer; উপজেলা
নির্বাহী কর্মকর্তা) is a non-elected administrator in Upazila. UNOs are
Senior Assistant Secretary of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS). They
act as executive officer of the upazila. Each Upazila Parishad (or
council) has a chairman, a vice-chairman and a woman vice-chairman.
All three are elected through direct popular election. Union Parishad
chairman within the upazila are considered as the members of
the porishod. The post of a woman vice-chairman was created to ensure
at least one-third woman representation in the all elected posts of the
local government. On 22 January 2010 the first election in 18 years of
Upazila Porishod was held. One-third of the seats in the Upazila
Parishad are reserved for women.
Local councils

Union Councils (or Union Parishads or Unions) are the smallest rural
administrative and local government units in Bangladesh. Each Union is
made up of nine Wards. Usually one village is designated as a Ward.
There are 4,573 Unions in Bangladesh. A Union Council consists of a
chairman and twelve members including three members exclusively
reserved for women. Union Parishads are formed under the Local
Government (Union Parishads) Act, 2009. A Union Council is the body
primarily responsible for agricultural, industrial and community
development within the local limits of the union. Under the legislation,
25% of union parishad seats are reserved for women.
Town Council
In Bangladesh, Municipal Councils or Town Municipalities or
Paurasabha or Municipality is an urban local body that administers a city
of population 100,000 or more than. The members of the Paurasabha are
elected representatives for a term of five years. The town is divided into
wards according to its population, and representatives are elected from
each ward. The Paurasabha members are known as Councillors. The
number of wards in a municipal area is determined by the population of
the Town. The Mayor is the executive head of the Municipal Councils
are elected for a span of five years.

City Council

The cities with a city corporation, having mayoral elections,


include Dhaka South, Dhaka
North, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Comilla,
Mymensingh, Narayanganj and Gazipur. Other major cities, these and
other municipalities electing a chairperson,
include Faridpur, Jessore, Bogra, Dinajpur, Pabna, Kushtia, Cox's
Bazar , Noakhali , Patuakhali and Rangamati. Both the municipal heads
are elected for a span of five years. Due to rapid growth of towns and
cities, in sub-urban area the Union Parishad is frequently replaced
by the Municipal Corporations (Pourashava) and City
Corporations.

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