By Buddhajyoti Chakma, Sadhan Bikash Chakma and Joyanti Dewan
.The law stipulates that the land administration and the police department of the three hill districts will be in the hands of the respective district councils. It is clearly stated in the three separate yet almost similar amended laws for the hill districts.
The three laws – Rangamati Hill District Council Act 1989, Bandarban Hill District Council Act 1989 and Khagrachhari Hill District Council Act 1989 – were enacted after the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord 1997.
But, for all practical purposes, these two very important departments of the administration are still under the control of the government. As a result, the three district councils cannot play any role in containing the law and order situation, nor in solving land disputes in the hill districts.
Leaders of the hill people said police from others areas do not know the local languages, culture and topography. According to the district council act, members of the local tribal communities will be given priority in the appointment of district police. If this provision had been followed, it would have been easier to uphold law and order. The local residents would be able to rely on the police more.
Bandarban Hill District Council chairman Kyaw Shwe Hla Marma told Prothom Alo that intruders are grabbing thousands of acres of land in his district. Hill dwellers along with many Bengalis are becoming landless. If the council was assigned to look after the land, according to the hill tract accord, the situation would be different.
Beside this, important departments for the hill areas like forest, local government engineering, roads and highways, are not yet transferred, he added.
State minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bir Bahadur, claimed that the authority of the district councils had been considerably increased.
Talking to Prothom Alo, he said, “Several inter-ministerial meetings were held to solve the procedural flaws in transferring departments to the council. Police and land administration transfer is a lengthy process and this will be done gradually. A few problems that surfaced during the task are being solved.”
Bir Bahadur held a meeting with the finance ministry to enable the hill district councils to receive their development budget allocation directly from the ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs.
According to Section B of the district council act, 23 departments of the government (stated as institution and working council) are to be transferred to the district council. About 33 functions of the district council (including improving the law and order situation, solving social problems in keeping with local customs, expanding education, agriculture development, forest preservation, social services, etc.) are defined in the act. But the section does not include anything on the number of transferring government departments.
According to section 62 of the council law, sub-inspectors and below of the police at Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban districts, shall be appointed by the councils in a manner laid down by regulations and the respective council may transfer and take action against them. In these functions, police regulations must be followed. In addition, officials and members of the district police will account for their functions to the district police. According to the section 63, any crime committed in the district must be reported to the council chairman. According to sections 64-65, management of land administration is vested with the council.
Nirupa Dewan, former member of the National Human Rights Commission, points to a lack of government’s will, opposition of certain quarters and bureaucratic complications, as the reasons behind the failure to transfer land and police to the district council.
She told Prothom Alo, “Several meetings were held at Rangamati to transfer police department. Certain quarters then call for strikes as soon as any discussion begins. These are instigated by influential persons.”
She added that the district council is rendered institutionally powerless due to several reasons including elections not being held.
The Rangamati hill district council has a chairman and 33 members. Of them, 20 are indigenous, 10 are non-indigenous and 3 are women members of the reserved seats. The council term is 5 years. Khagrachari and Bandarban district councils have the same tenure and number of members including reserved seats for women. But the ratio of the number of indigenous to non-indigenous members is different from Rangamati district council.
Debasish Roy, the king of the Chakma Circle, said the district council was run by unelected persons who were failing to operate the transferred departments and offices properly. He said the council could meet not more than 40 percent of the residents’ demands. He demanded separate voter lists for these three districts and setting an election date soon.
Brisaketu Chakma, the chairman of Rangamati Hill District Council said, there were systematic errors in transferring the departments and because of that they were facing difficulties while working in different sectors. The council pays the officers and staffs’ salary and allowances. The council also has the authority to recruit or control the grade-3 and grade-4 staffs of the transferred departments. But they don’t have authority over grade-1 and grade-2 government officers. “These officers get their remuneration from the district council but work for the ministry,” said Brisaketu Chakma. Different ministries implemented their district annual development programmes through these officers and thus they were not accountable to the district council for their job, he added.
Brisaketu Chakma said, with lump sum allocations from the ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs, the district council undertook some small development initiatives as per the transferred departments’ needs. But the concerned ministry does not provide any support for project-based initiatives. Although the district council was formed to ensure equal development for the ethnic people, it did not achieve that target yet.
The ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs allocates an average of 450 to 460 million for development assistance every year. But the ministry neither provided the annual development allocations through the council nor informed them about the total amount of allocations.
Thanjama Lusai, former chairman of Bandarban district council said, there was an imbalance between the capacity of council and ministry including the officers of transferred departments. The council failed to coordinate with the ministry during policy-making and planning of development programs.
Khagrachari district council member Abdul Jabbar thinks the marginalised ethnic people are being benefited by the district council gradually. He said the council has worked to expand classrooms in primary education sector and developed some small roads. But due to lack of coordination of the transferred departments with the concerned ministry, the council could not undertake any big projects.
On the other hand, Goutam Dewan, the president of Chittagong Hill Tracts Citizen’s Committee thinks not having specific rules and regulations is the main reason the council is facing difficulties.
He said, no election was held in three district councils for the last 20 years.
The members and activists of ruling parties were selected for the council’s different positions which, in the long run, hampered the efficiency and capacity of the council, further said Goutam Dewan.
Retired brigadier general M Sakhawat Hossain, the brigade commander of Bandarban in 1989 during the formation of district council, told Prothom Alo yesterday, “As far I can remember, land sector, local administration and security forces were among the 20 to 22 sectors that were to be handed over to the council at that time. It was said that the district council would not be able to work freely and properly without the control over these sectors. It was also promised that the election would be held every five years. It is sad that the council is yet to be given the responsibilities.”
The former election commissioner feels that the district council should be given all responsibilities as soon as possible, otherwise the councils of three hill districts will not be able to function properly.http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/135676/Govt-unwilling-to-lose-control-over-land-police
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