LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday in parliament criticised newspapers for what he said negative reports on the city corporation bill. The bill was passed Monday rejecting a parliamentary body's recommendation to make MPs advisers to city corporations.

Newspapers should have run it as positive news since the bill was passed without making MPs advisers to the city corporations, he said. "But the newspapers ran negative reports saying that the desire of MPs to be advisers to city corporations was not fulfilled," the LGRD minister said when the local government (union parishad) bill was being passed. He said, "If the MPs did not vote for the bill to be passed, then how did it pass? The lawmakers deserve to be lauded."

The LGRD minister urged the editors to pay more attention to the matter immediately and take necessary measures to this end. He urged the editors to be cautious in future. Speaker Abdul Hamid, who was presiding over the sitting, echoed the view of the minister and said the newspapers should have made reports in a positive way. "MPs have deleted the provision of being advisers to the city corporations and passed the bill," Hamid said.

The LGRD minister said MPs were not elected on anybody's sympathy, the people elected them. "Stop the tendency of undermining lawmakers," he said. He said NGO and private company officials get huge amount of money as salaries and they work 9:00am to 4:00pm. The MPs work round the clock and round the year but their facilities are very poor. "Freedom of the press will not prevail if the parliament does not exist. Therefore existence of parliament is imperative to the freedom of the press," Ashraf said. Many ruling alliance lawmakers supported the LGRD minister's remarks.

The LGRD minister placed the city corporation bill in parliament on March 3. The bill did not have the provision of making lawmakers advisers to the city corporations. But the parliamentary standing committee on LGRD ministry in its scrutiny report recommended that the House make lawmakers advisers to city corporations. The standing committee also recommended that the House make the lawmakers advisers to the municipalities. The House on September 14 passed the municipality bill rejecting the committee's recommendations.

Earlier, the lawmakers were made advisers to the upazila parishads with sweeping authority to dictate the functions of the parishads, which sparked widespread criticism. The elected chairmen and vice-chairmen to the parishads have been demanding the scraping of the provisions. In the wake of prevailing situation, the government itself is considering to bring changes to the upazila parishad act again.

-Daily Star