The alleged longstanding conflict between the mayor and seven councillors at Kalai municipality in Joypurhat has been hampering development activities in the area for nearly four years.
Accusing Mayor Towfiqul Islam Talukdar Belal of calling all the shots and his involvement in a range of irregularities, the councillors have kept themselves isolated from municipal affairs for 28 months, while the locals are bearing the brunt of the contention.
The councillors have alleged that Towfiqul, after winning the Kalai municipal elections on January 9, 2011, he seems to act like an authoritarian in carrying out officials tasks at the municipality.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed two cases against him on charges of misappropriating more than Tk28 lakh collected rents from markets.
Apart from using municipality trucks to transport his own materials, the mayor allegedly makes money by renting them to others, a charge he denies. He allegedly approves projects at will without giving councillors the copies of statement of work.
Towfiqul, who was the general secretary of Kalai upazila unit of Awami League before the 2011 elections, allegedly collects money from drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaws using fake tokens and embezzles the money without depositing in the bank. He allegedly misused the loan he took illegally from the Asian Development Bank.
The mayor allegedly passed the municipality budget without the approval of the council. He also allegedly pocketed a big amount of cash by appointing six employees in the municipality without the council’s approval.
He has been accused of depriving seven councillors, who protested the irregularities, of their honorarium for 28 months. The councillors were 10 in number at first, but three of them were lured by promises of extra facilities who then went in favour of the mayor a couple of months ago, prompting rivalry with the seven.
The director of the Local Government Division in Rajshahi carried out a probe against the mayor on December 5, 2012, in the wake of complaints submitted by the councillors to the secretary of the Local Government Division and the deputy commissioner of Joypurhat. The allegations were found to be true in the investigation and the secretary of the Local Government Division issued a show-cause notice to Towfiqul, asking him to respond within seven days.
Besides, Director of the Local Government Division ABM Arshad Hossain conducted another investigation into the allegations in January this year, and found them to be true as well.
Along with the mayor, nine male councillors and three women councillors were elected in nine wards under Kalai municipality in the 2011 elections. Although the councillors were discontented with the mayor’s dictatorial attitude, they assisted him at the beginning.
In June 2012, eight male councillors and two women councillors got into a conflict with the mayor, but three of them later ended up on the mayor’s side.
Councillor of ward 4 Sirajul Islam said he and his fellow councillors are not respected at all in the council.
“Soon After the elections, the mayor, to showcase his power, transferred 10 workers of the municipality against our will. He also showed fake appointment under master roll and embezzled the salaries and bills withdrawn in their names,” he said.
Councillor of ward 5 Abdul Khaleq said the mayor strategically won the contracts for all the development projects of the municipality.
“He accumulated Tk8-10 lakh in just a couple of years by manipulating tenders. He also fired 18 registered cleaning workers of the municipality soon after taking office. The drainage system in nine wards has collapsed since then,” he said.
Rezaul Islam, councillor of ward 6, said the mayor took signatures of all the councillors to appoint six workers but embezzled around Tk37 lakh in the process.
“He also asks the workers not to serve us tea when we go to the office. This is really humiliating and the situation has forced us to stay away from office affairs,” he said.
The councillors alleged they could not participate in any development work in the locality in the past few years because of the mayor’s dictatorial approach to work. They also said the mayor continues to enjoy impunity just because of the influence of the ruling party in spite of the vidence revealing his corruption and authoritarianism.
Towfiqul, however, strenuously denied all the allegations against him, arguing that he became the centre of envy in the eyes of his rivals because of his social and political position, who incited the councillors to raise false allegations of abuse of power against him.
Claiming that he is an accomplished mayor, Towfiqul said the government would not have sent him abroad had he been involved in misdeeds.
He also defended the allegation of suspending the honorarium of councillors, saying: “They want to have the money without attending monthly meetings but it cannot happen. They have to participate in the meetings and should sign the resolution.”