THE government initiative to decentralise several public service deliveries by transferring them to local government bodies has not been properly implemented even though a law was enacted for this purpose nine years ago. The rural people are being deprived of quality services. It’s learnt that bureaucratic and political unwillingness are the major obstacles while ministries concerned are apparently inactive in this regard. The Upazila Parishad (Amendment) Act 2011 transferred 17 government ministerial functions to upazila parishad. The bodies include directorates of health, family planning, agricultural extension, fisheries, livestock, disaster management, social welfare and primary education. But in reality, the government lacks the political will to hand over the functions of these offices to upazila parishad. Officials of these departments bypass upazila parishad in terms of accountability. According to the upazila parishad act, upazila chairmen are assigned to prepare the annual performance report of the officials of the 17 departments while the senior officials of their respective departments are charged with the responsibility of preparing the annual confidential report (ACR).
On the other hand, the parent department does not properly monitor the activities of the UHFPOs as their activities have been transferred by law. Functions of seven government offices were transferable to union parishad authorities. Proper implementation of the laws, the government needs to abolish and withdraw some policies, directives, and circulars. It is alleged that the ministries do not want local government representatives to take care of the public services. Providing public services through the local government institutions is the most efficient way as they have better service delivery capacity. Although the elected representatives are the heads of local government institutions on paper, they do not actually have such powers.
While decentralisation along with transfer of line department functions is the key of effective service delivery, the government must empower the elected representatives and local government units without delaying any time.
