Dhaka City Corporations
People face hassles in getting services
The residents of the capital have been facing complications and harassment in getting different certificates since the mayor and the ward councillors left their office six months ago following the split of the city corporation.
The councillors used to issue citizenship and sharers' certificates. In their absence, the responsibility has now fallen on the administrative officials of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
The service seekers alleged that the officials were forcing people to give bribe to get these certificates issued. Earlier it would not require people to pay any money or pay only a very nominal amount to obtain the certificates.
Unlike the councillors, the officials are also asking the applicants to produce different papers now, they said, while the people remained left in the dark about what they need to obtain the certificates. The process used to be very simple and corruption-free when the councilors dealt with the matter, the city people said.
The zonal executive officers, who issue the certificates now, claimed that they were taking necessary papers to comply with "the relevant rules", which the ward councillors did not follow earlier.
The Local Government (City Corporation) Act-2009, however, does not contain any clear instructions about what papers one should submit. Moreover there are no uniform rules that the administration officials are following. The rules differ from zone to zone.
Since the split of the erstwhile Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) on November 29 last year, 10 zonal executive officers of the two city corporations have been discharging the duties of the councillors. The DCC had 120 councilors, including 30 female ones in reserved seats.
Talking to this correspondent, a number of residents of different parts of the capital complained that they were harassed in different ways by the employees and officials like that they were asked to produce "additional papers" and pay money. Everything went alright when the service seekers paid money, the victims added.
Sohel Mollah, a resident of Dholaipar area under ward-51, said the officials of the ward office and the zonal office asked him for Tk 4,000 to issue a sharers' certificate.
When this correspondent approached an official of zone-5 under DNCC as an applicant for a sharers' certificate, he [the official] said one of his relatives had to spend Tk 2500 to get the certificate. The official also advised the correspondent to take the matter through an employee of the office. Otherwise it would take a lot of time and there is possibility that he would not get the certificate at all, he said.
The necessary documents to get a sharers' certificate from zone-5 office include an affidavit of notary public on a Tk 150 stamp, the national ID card of every sharer or birth certificate or photocopy of passport, death certificate from the hospital (if any), graveyard certificate, photocopy of the national ID card of the deceased person, no objection certificate from the owner of the adjoining house, applications to zonal executive officer, and a full report by the ward secretary.
Ashraful Ahmed, a student from Senpara Parbata area, who visited the zone-8 office under DNCC, said that to get the citizen certificate, he was asked to submit those papers, including the photocopy of the national ID card, birth certificate, and the copy of the gas or electricity bill.
"Earlier our councillor would give us citizen certificate taking just a copy of the gas or electricity bill or other bills and sometime without any bill," he said.
Md Mizanur Rahman, executive officer of zone-5 of DSCC, said the councillors did not follow the rules properly and used to issue certificates without necessary documents as they knew the people of their locality. "We are very cautious in issuing a certificate, especially the sharers' certificate, to avoid any difficulties," he said.
Asked about charging applicants of extra money, he said that if they found any employee or official involved in such a case, they would take action against them.
The elections to the two Dhaka city corporations were scheduled for May 24, but the High Court deferred the polls on April 16 for three months saying that the necessary preparations for holding the election had not been completed.
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