A high-level symposium on administrative restructuring held at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka sparked intense debate on Tuesday regarding the optimal framework to devolve budgetary and administrative powers from the central secretariat to district and upazila parishads.
Presenting a comparative research paper, former cabinet secretaries and constitutional scholars argued that Bangladesh remains one of the most fiscally centralized nations in Asia, with less than 8 percent of public expenditures managed by locally elected bodies.
The colloquium recommended granting municipal councils independent tax assessment powers and restructuring block grants to empower regional healthcare, primary school maintenance, and agrarian drainage infrastructure directly at the grassroots level.
