Khaleda to give more powers to local government bodies

Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said yesterday that her government will decentralise the administration, granting more powers to local government bodies in order to accelerate development.

She was talking to a 10-member delegation from London's Tower Hamlets area led by the leader of its Council, Helal Uddin Abbas, when they called on her.

More than 45,000 Bangla-deshis reside in the Tower Hamlets which has a population of nearly 200,000. Some 28 of the 51 elected councillors of the area are Bangladeshis involved in development programmes.

During the meeting, the premier hoped that sharing experiences with local-tier leaders of Britain would help enrich Bangladesh's local government system.

The delegation said that they had already met the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development and learnt about the development programmes of the present four-party alliance government.

Appreciating various steps and reform programmes of the government, the delegation said such efforts would have long-term positive impacts.

The delegation informed the prime minister that they had taken up a programme to train young local government leaders for management and development administration.

They also showed their interest in imparting training to teachers, nurses and catering personnel.
The delegation will also help Bangladeshis gain admission to postgraduate certificate language courses.

The Prime Minister welcomed the decision and said such training will help trainees secure jobs at home and abroad.

Appreciating the success of Bangladeshi councillors in integrating with the development process and politics of the UK, she billed each of them as an "ambassador of Bangladesh" and urged them to uphold Bangladesh's image and culture abroad.