Speakers at a pre-budget dialogue have termed the “District Budget” an important tool for ensuring local development, putting more focus on the participation by the local people in the budgetary process.
They made the obs ervation at a pre-budget dialogue titled “District Budget” organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at Bureau Bangladesh Auditorium in Tangail yesterday.
Attending the dialogue, the participants suggested for decentralisation of district budget, strengthening district council, improvement of infrastructural development including railways and highways communication, setting up cold storage to preserve locally produced agricultural products pineapple, building embankment for tackling growing river erosion, and establishing vocational training institute.
They also observed that the government should revise the methodology of formulating district budget and improve it as per the demands of the local people.
The discussion at the district level aimed at conveying demands of the local people and their reflections on district budget to the policymakers, said Professor MustafizurRahman, executive director of CPD.
He hoped that the reflections from the grassroots level would also help CPD in generating ideas on how best the budget could be formulated. Policymakers must have close coordination with the district-level administration to drive effective development measures, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD, who moderated the programme.
The legal framework and function of the district council should be reviewed to ensure adequate implementation of the district budget, said Bhattacharya.
“In order to do this, structure of the local government needs to be strengthened to mobilise local funds.”
Bhattacharya also viewed that the district budget needs clear outline for revenue generation from district level and the government should make sure that tax and VAT are duly being paid locally.
The need for a local government financing commission is essential to ensure quality of public expenditures, which would determine appropriate financial allocation according to the local demands, he added.
Speaking as chief guest, FazlurRahman Khan Faruk, administrator of Tangail district council, also put emphasis on the importance of more focus on the district budget to address the needs of the local people.
He also felt that parliamentarians should place justified demands before the government for their respective constituencies.
While presenting his keynote paper, Towfiqul Islam Khan, research fellow of CPD, observed that Tangaildistrict excelled in reducing poverty in comparison to the national average.
