A general meeting of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) was suspended in progress yesterday after 34 ward councillors boycotted the meeting after presenting their three-point demand.
Sources said the councillors came to the 15th general meeting of the KCC, which took place at Shahid Altaf Auditorium in Khulna, 20 minutes after it started around 11:30am yesterday.
Out of 41 councillors, 34 attended the meeting to present their three-point demand to the mayor and left the meeting half an hour later, announcing that they would not attend the general meetings until their demands were met.
The demands are: recruitment of 10 drain workers in every ward, cancellation of Sub-Assistant Engineer Ajmal Hossain’s promotion to assistant engineer, and cancellation of ward secretaries’ appointments to different lucrative positions.
Speaking at a press briefing at the councillors’ rest room, Panel Mayor 1 Anisur Rahman Bizwas and Panel Mayor 2 Sheikh Hafizur Rahman said: “All our councillors agree with the demands, and none of them will attend the general meetings unless the demands are met.”
Ward 25 Councillor Ali Akbar Tipu said: “There is a lack of coordination between the mayor and the councillors, which creates an opportunity for corruption and hinders development work.”
“The mayor rarely listens to what we councillors have to say; he only has time for the government officers,” Ward 21 Councillor Shamsuzzaman Miah Swapan complained.
KCC Mayor Md Moniruzzaman Moni said he would discuss the demands with the councillors in a meeting today.
He also said the recruitment of drain workers, albeit difficulties due to an amendment of city corporation law in 2009, is in progress, and Sub-Assistant Engineer Ajmal Hossain is merely seeing to additional responsibilities of an assistant engineer; he has not been promoted to the designation.
About the ward secretaries, the mayor said new secretaries were appointed because many ward councillors did not want to work with the previous secretaries.