Chittagong City Corporation Mayor Shahadat Hossain said that, as a politician, he keeps his political activities separate from his work at the city corporation.
He instructed leaders and workers not to disturb him with political matters during working hours, assuring them that he would engage in political discussions after 5pm but asked them to refrain from visiting for such purposes from 9am to 5pm.
Shahadat made these remarks during a meeting with officials and employees in the conference room of CCC's disaster management building in the city on Tuesday afternoon.
The mayor further said: "In Dhaka, I have seen the local government advisr working until 10pm. An 85-year-old man dedicates himself day and night. If he can endure so much at his age, why can't we? We must approach our work with honesty and commitment."
Following his address, the mayor answered various questions from journalists before proceeding to CCC’s temporary office at Tigerpass in the city.
There, after a religious ceremony, he formally took office as mayor.
Earlier, Shahadat Hossain, a BNP leader, was sworn in as mayor by AF Hasan Arif, the local government adviser to the caretaker government, on Sunday, following his court-appointed victory.
He arrived in Chittagong by train the following afternoon, where thousands of supporters greeted him at the railway station.
Addressing challenges within CCC, Mayor Shahadat Hossain said: "The CCC organogram should have three to four thousand officers and employees; however, it currently holds around nine thousand. As I assume office, I inherited a deficit and debt burden of approximately Tk440 crore. I have faced many challenges before. I'll overcome this one too."
Upon taking office, the mayor announced plans to visit each of the city’s 41 wards.
Shahadat Hossain said: "I am not one to sit in an air-conditioned room. I will implement action plans in all 41 wards as soon as possible. We need to focus on dengue prevention, with sanitation activities strengthened in each ward. Leaflets should be distributed to raise public awareness. Currently, dengue prevention is our priority, and we will take all necessary measures to tackle it."
Mayor Shahadat also said that the a need for coordination among service providers in the city, suggesting that forming a city government could be the solution.
He explained: "The city government needs to coordinate service providers. All service agencies should fall under the city corporation’s public representative. This will bring discipline to our work. I intend to coordinate with the available service providers and plan to meet with everyone as soon as possible."
Earlier, the court of Chittagong Joint District and Sessions Judge and Election Tribunal Mohammad Khairul Amin declared Shahadat Hossain as the mayor on October 1 in a case filed by BNP’s mayoral candidate Dr Shahadat Hossain over the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) election.
The court instructed the Election Commission Secretary to publish the gazette within 10 days.
According to the CCC election results announced on January 27, 2021, Awami League's candidate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury was declared the winner, securing 3,69,248 votes with the boat symbol. Dr. Shahadat Hossain, his nearest rival and BNP's candidate, received 52,489 votes under the paddy symbol.
Subsequently, Dr Shahadat filed a case alleging vote rigging.