The chief of the committee on the preparation for ‘White Paper on the State of Bangladesh Economy’, Debapriya Bhattacharya, said on Monday that the non-governmental organisations wanted prevention of corruption in the country.
He said that administrative hurdles and corruption by the government bodies had obstructed non-government organisations from performing their duties properly.
Some of the hurdles were created intentionally, said Debapriya in a briefing after a meeting with representatives of 78 NGOs at the planning commission.
The meeting was arranged as part of preparing the white paper on the country’s economy plagued by corruption, misappropriation of bank funds, capital flights, and the market syndicate under the Awami League regime which was ousted amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
Debapriya, also a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that the NGO representatives wanted to curb corruption in the government bodies engaged in monitoring them.
They also wanted initiatives to check corruption by the Anti-Corruption Commission, he said.
Besides, they expressed resentment with the role and performance of law enforcement agencies, deputy commissioners, officials in foreign missions and public data collectors.
The NGO representatives also highlighted the problems of expatriate Bangladeshis and that of ethnic minorities.
They also raised the issues of the country’s child marriage and child labour situation.
Debapriya said that they would accommodate the findings and recommendations of the NGOs in the white paper so that the interim government could help in their capacity building in the future.
Criticising the role of the immediate past political government for harassing NGOs for providing approval of projects and their renewal, he said that NGOs deserved more for their contribution towards the socio-economic progress of the county.
He suggested that NGOs should be given due recognition.Â
The full committee that was formed on August 28 is assigned to write the white paper in 90 days.