Donors' fund misused in the name of rural uplift
Speakers tell roundtable
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a roundtable yesterday said rural people have seen very little uplift in their areas although thousands of crores of taka were received from donors in the name of rural development since the independence.They said most of the money were misused due to corruption and wrong planning of the authorities concerned. The speakers called for decentralisation of administration, checking of corruption and participation of local people for the development of rural areas. They said the government should also encourage private entrepreneurs to develop human resources in rural areas. Some speakers criticised the government for its initiative to form Gram Sarkar. The roundtable was organised by the Rural Development and Co-operative Division to discuss its success and failures in first two years of the present government. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Manan Bhuiyan attended the roundtable as chief guest and State Minister Ziaul Haque Zia as special guest. Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said the government has given top priority to poverty alleviation. To achieve this objective, co-operative laws have been changed and Tk 200 crore has been allocated as soft loan for the poor, he added. He alleged that the past government looted all the funds of this division. Ziaul Haque expressed his dissatisfaction at the performance of the division over the years. He said the government should investigate the misuse of the fund of this division. He also alleged that different ministries are bringing money in the name of rural development but most of the funds are being misused. Dhiraj Kumar Nath, former secretary of the ministry, said the government always spend money for the urban development. It never spend even one percent of its budget for rural development, he added. Dr Salahuddin, managing director of Palli Karma Sohayok Foundation (PKSF), said the government should not encourage project-based development. For sustainable development area-based strategy should be encouraged, he said. Enayetullah Khan, editor of the New Age, suggested strengthening of local financial activities for the rural development. He also called for coordination between the NGOs and the co-operative societies. Mushfiqur Rahman, chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, said the NGOs should be encouraged to work for rural development. Gias Kamal Chowdhury accused the main opposition of hampering the foreign investment by defaming the country abroad.
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