ABSTRACT
The Bengal Act III of 1864 which led to the establishment of the Dacca Municipality was a landmark in the city's urban development. A government notification also defined the area over which the Dacca Municipality would exercise its jurisdiction. In Dacca, most of the native commissioners being landholders and merchants had businesses outside the city which prevented their regular attendance at meetings. Indeed, in 1870, the Government of Bengal was to pass an Act especially for Dacca which allowed the commissioners to raise the rate to ten percent. In June 1872, the Bengal Government authorized the Dacca Municipality to make a formal application for the loan under the Local Public Works Loan Act, Act XXIV of 1871. The Dacca Municipality quickly extended the Act to the city, and after correspondence with the Howrah Municipality about a scavenging fee resolved to impose a privy-tax.
