The government has announced the remunerations and other facilities for city corporation mayors, but none of them will get the status of minister or state minister.
A local government division order issued on Sunday said that the government fixed up the remunerations, house rent and other facilities as per the section 18 of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009.
According to the order, the mayors of different city corporations will get Tk94,500 as monthly remuneration, house rent and other allowances from the day they have taken or will take office as mayors.
However, the issue of giving them minister or state minister status was not addressed in the order, although previous mayors of Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi and Chittagong have enjoyed the status.
Local Government Division Secretary Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the order for mayors’ remuneration and facilities has been issued as the division has received the finance ministry’s consent,
“The mayors who were not getting their remuneration and other facilities will get them soon,” he added.
“The issue of fixing their remunerations and status were delayed due to a question of what their status would be. There is no provision of giving minister or state minister status to mayors in the local government act. The cabinet division has also opined that there is no relation between the status of mayors and that of ministers and state ministers,” the secretary said.
“So the government has decided to give them the status of mayors as per the law,” he added.
Shahid Khan said the last Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka was given minister status during the last BNP government’s tenure. The same government had also given state minister status to the mayors of Rajshahi, Khulna and Chittagong city corporations. But the incumbent government has decided to follow the city corporation law on the issue of mayors’ status and other facilities, he said.
The local government division order says the mayors of city corporations will get Tk44,500 as remuneration, Tk40,000 as house rent and Tk10,000 for other facilities. The facilities will be given from the day they have taken or will take office. The expenditures will be financed from the city corporations’ own fund.
The local government division officials said after the order, the mayors of Narayanganj, Comilla and Rangpur city corporations will be able to get their remuneration and other facilities for the first time.
According to local government officials, the remuneration and facilities which the division fixed for the mayors will be effective for all the mayors of the country. Each of them will get the same benefits as mayor.