Rajuk filling up the Balu
River grabbing by state agency!
We must thank the Department of Environment (DoE) for acting promptly on the report of The Daily Star regarding the damage done to the Balu. But we feel that it should have acted sooner. The river had already become clogged and un-navigable due to unabated encroachment and pollution. And RAJUK has caused constriction of its width by filling up the banks in order to construct a bridge over it under a project that did not have the approval of the BIWTA.
Although the project has been stopped, but what is inexplicable is the fact that the DoE was prompted to act only by the Star's report when a good part of the project had already been completed and substantial damage to the river done as a result.
The RAJUK, the DoE, and the BIWTA owe an explanation to clarify a few things. One wonders how come a project that had not been cleared by the BIWTA could have been proceeded with, and what was RAJUK's compulsion to go ahead with an unapproved scheme. And how it is that none of the relevant agencies had noticed the construction work in the last three years, the project having commenced in 2008 and was due for completion next year?
Regrettably, in spite of the government's declared policy with regards to protection of the rivers, and the very strong commitment of the PM herself to the issue, and the seminal 12-point formula by the highest judiciary in this matter, river grabbing goes on unabated. In this case the grabber happens to be a government agency that seems to care little for government or judicial instructions.
While one must laud government decisions regarding protection of the rivers and the environment, their implementation has been lamentably poor. And the latest instance has exposed a serious failure of governance too. While we, The Daily Star, have been waging, a relentless struggle, and will continue to do so to save the rivers, it would be advisable for the government not to wait for the media but to be more proactive and gear up its own oversight mechanism to nab the grabbers before they can cause serious damage.
Safety net schemes
Impact assessment necessary
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the ultra-poor focusing on the upcoming budget has brought up an important agenda. Chairman of the APPG Saber Hossain Chowdhury highlighted the need for an assessment of the impact of the expenditure incurred in the safety net programmes that were taken up in the financial year which is about to end. Given that 84 such programmes were in operation with budgetary allocations amounting to Tk. 19.497 crore (being 15 percent of the national budget) the questions of monitoring how the money was spent and with what results certainly assumes critical importance.
We don't know whether concerns were formally raised as part of the quarterly and mid-term appraisal of the budget's implementation. That would have been the ideal thing to do to change gears in time, if it were needed. But we may not have missed the bus altogether, there is still some time left to carry out an impact assessment. We must go about it immediately to develop a strategy or strategies keeping in view the pitfalls of the outgoing year to avert them in the next.
The criteria for assessment should be (a) whether the target beneficiaries were selected on the basis of their need or a partisan angle was taken; (b) whether there was pilferage and corruption; (c) if so, what steps were taken to hold the responsible to account; and (d) were these programmes location-specific and time-bound? For all we know, much of it was not meant to be a dole so that it is worthwhile to probe the extent of physical targets met.
Finally, we fully endorse the idea of creating a centralised database of the ultra-poor and specific programmes so far undertaken for them to keep a tab on the goings-on and make timely intervention and correction. Also finally, it makes strategic sense to have an integrated approach under the government and NGOs to make a definite impact on poverty.
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