The parliamentary Standing Committee on the Local Government Ministry has asked the two city corporations to submit documents on earnings from renting billboards in the capital, as it suspects corrupt practices in such dealings.
The committee in its yesterday’s meeting asked the authorities of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to submit monthly or yearly reports.
City corporation officials yesterday submitted two separate reports on their overall operations at the meeting held in the parliament building.
According to the reports, DNCC has 853 billboards in its remit while the number is 613 for the DSCC.
But the lawmakers, who are members of the committee, were in doubt about the number of billboards and asked for more details, including the revenue the billboards generate.
Rahima Akhter, a lawmaker and a member of the committee who attended the meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune billboards are commonplace in the capital but the city corporations did not earn enough money by renting those.
“That is why the committee suspected irregularities and corruption in the sector,” she said.
Billboards in the capital sparked discussions many times in the past in the wake of several tragic incidents, such as sudden collapse of billboards, that led to casualties. Besides, occupying billboards for business using political influence has also been alleged.
The High Court also had to order removal of illegal and risky billboards in the capital.
DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md Ansar Ali Khan, who attended the meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune the committee suspected corruption in billboard business but city corporations are not involved in any anomaly regarding billboard affairs. He said many billboards have been put up on the properties of many government agencies.
“We wrote to those agencies asking for the number of billboards installed on their properties,” said Ansar.
The DSCC official said city corporations are drawing up a list of illegal billboards in the capital.
“Because of those, the committee thought the number of billboards is higher than what we submitted in our reports,” he said.
Members of the committee also suggested to digitise the revenue collection system of both city corporations. The DNCC in its report said it is going to do so in March next year but the DSCC did not mention any specific date.
Ansar told the Dhaka Tribune the DSCC plans to implement automatic revenue collection system by December 2015.
At the meeting, the committee members also discussed way to properly utilise city corporation budgets allocated by the government. They also asked officials to initiate projects that reflect the demands and needs of the city dwellers.
The committee also received complaints about corruption in the tender affairs of Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Co-Operative Union Ltd, and asked the Rural Development and Co-operation Department was asked to investigate the matter.
LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, and lawmakers Advocate Rahmat Ali, Saber Hossain Chowdhury and AKM Mostafizur Rahman were present in the meeting.
