Election of Ajmiriganj municipality in Habiganj has been stalled for the last 10 years due to legal complications. Despite paying taxes regularly, residents are not getting the necessary benefits because of administrative hindrances. Moreover, since there is no elected mayor, the same person has been allegedly at the helm of the municipality for a long time.
Locals say two cases regarding the demarcation of the municipality have led to such stagnant situation.
When contacted, municipality mayor Mohammad Gulam Farook said, Touhid Ali of Naya Nagar village filed a case with local court at the very beginning of the municipality formation. His allegation was that though his house was within the municipality area, it had been listed within the union. This case was settled by the lower court, but Touhid Ali moved the High Court and secured a stay order.
Another complaint was lodged by Ward 8 councillor Jyotish Kuri to the UNO. He alleged that some areas of his Ward had been integrated into Ward 9. This is also awaiting decision of the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) ministry.
Unless and until these two cases were resolved, an election of the municipality would not be possible, added the mayor.
Ajmiriganj was declared a municipality on January 21 of 2004 by the then BNP government. The 6.5 square kilometre municipality has a population of 16,000, with 9000 enlisted voters. There are about 3500 Hindu voters.
Initially, the UNO was appointed as the mayor of the municipality. But later in the same year, upazila BNP leader Mohammad Gulam Farook was made the mayor. After serving till 2012, he was again replaced by the UNO as there were cases against Farook. However, Farook was reinstated as a mayor with a court order in 2013 and had been holding the position since then.
The Ajmiriganj municipality has no administrative building of its own. It operates from a rented space at UNO’s office at BRDB building. This lack of infrastructure has been heavily impeding the development work, adding frustration and fury among the citizen.
While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Secretary General of upazila Jubo Dal Khaledur Rashid blamed the current mayor for the complications. He said: “Defendants of both the cases are BNP leaders and so is the mayor. Unless the cases are resolved, no election is possible.”
On condition of anonymity, a municipality official said, revenue collection was satisfactory in the municipality. “However, people’s desires have not been reflected in the development works since there had been no election. Everyone wants an election now.”
Mayor Gulam Farook emphasised on resolving the cases and urged the incumbent government to take action in this regard. “I have no objection to election. Whoever wins will run the administration. They will be accountable to people.” he added.