"Following the Green Crescent incident in Bhola, the government is discussing how to take quick measures with different ministries," the minister told reporters. He said, "We hit a beehive. We will bring NGOs under proper regulation with the cooperation of all." "Taking advantage of our economic weakness and helplessness, some countries are funnelling money for fundamentalists. We will not allow that to happen." "On the other hand, we will support those NGOs serving humanity," said Shahid. 'States within a state' "Some NGOs have created 'states within a state'. This also has to be stopped," he said. The programmes of some NGOs have gone sky high and they are very powerful and influential. They shall have to come under certain regulations," said the minister. Huge task Over 1.5 lakh NGOs are operating throughout the country, said Shahid. "From 1961 to date, 55,439 NGOs have been registered with the ministry. Of them, 32,159 NGOs are active and the remaining 23,280 NGOs are inactive," he said. "Outside the social welfare ministry, NGOs are also registered by the NGO Affairs Bureau, cooperatives directorate, women's affairs directorate, Bangladesh Bank and other organisations," the minister said. The social welfare ministry registers NGOs on condition that they cannot carry out micro-credit programmes, said the minister. The majority of organisations which are engaged in such programmes are registered by the micro-credit regulatory authority controlled by the Bangladesh Bank, he said. "But in our investigation, it has been found that 1864 NGOs are running micro-credit programmes, and of them 744 are running without approval." "Legal steps will be taken against those without authorisation," said the minister. bdnews24.com/pc/ja/rah/2121h | ||||||||
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