The Election Commission has made the necessary preparations to hold free, fair and neutral local government elections within the scheduled time, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the Parliament on Tuesday.
He also said the EC will continue its newly introduced IT-based postal ballot registration system for expatriate Bangladeshis in the next national election while highlighting government efforts to reduce arsenic risks through the installation of more than 1.2 million arsenic-free water sources across the country.
The minister made remarks in Parliament while replying to a question from Naogaon-6 lawmaker Sheikh Md. Rezaul Islam and reserved seat MP Selina Sultana during the question-and-answer session chaired by Deputy Speaker Kaiser Kamal.
Replying to another question from National Citizen Party (NCP) MP Hasnat Abdullah, Mirza Fakhrul, who is also in charge of the Election Commission Secretariat, said the EC has introduced an IT-based postal ballot registration system for the first time to ensure voting rights for Bangladeshis living abroad.
He said the system will remain in place for the next national election and that the commission is working to bring as many expatriate Bangladeshis as possible under the new voting arrangement.
Answering a question from Gaibandha-2 MP Abdul Karim, the Local Government Minister said the government currently has no plan to increase the salaries and allowances of Union Parishad chairmen and members.
Responding to another question regarding the role of lawmakers in district councils, he said MPs from the respective districts will act as advisers to the district councils and provide guidance on their activities.
During the session, reserved seat MP Selina Sultana asked what steps the government had taken to reduce the country's growing arsenic risk and what progress had been achieved.
In response, Mirza Fakhrul said a joint survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF found that around 11 percent of the country's population is currently exposed to arsenic contamination.
He said the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), under the Local Government Division, has implemented several programmes to protect people from arsenic-contaminated drinking water.
According to the minister, around 1.215 million arsenic-free water sources had been established across rural Bangladesh by 2026. These include deep tube wells, piped water supply systems, rainwater harvesting facilities, pond excavation and re-excavation projects, and solar-powered pond sand filters.
He expressed hope that, as a result of these initiatives, the proportion of people at risk of arsenic contamination would decline from the current 11 per cent to 5-6 per cent by the end of 2026.
