Beneficiaries of Hakimpur UZ allege fund misuse
The ethnic minority people in Hakimpur upazila under the district have alleged misappropriation of the fund sanctioned from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for conducting different development works in last three years.
The office of Hakimpur upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) got Tk 11.05 lakh in 2012-13 fiscal year, Tk 12 lakh in 2013-14 and Tk 18 lakh in 2015-16 fiscal year from the PMO for development works meant for around 3,000 ethnic families in the upazila, official sources said.
The fund is meant for different works including distribution of cattle and building sheds, building biogas plants, giving electricity supply, setting up sanitary toilets and tube-wells, financial help for the school children, distribution of rickshaws, rickshaw-vans and sewing machines and arranging trainings to empower the ethnic people.
"We did not get proper disbursement of the aid fund that was sent form the Prime Minister's Office during the last three years. The UNO office just built 20 toilets and setup 20 tube-wells in four villages, and each family had to pay Tk 500 for it," said Gregory Soren, president of Hakimpur upazila Adivasi Samaj Unnayan Samity.
An official of Public Health Engineering Department was to monitor the toilet and tube-well installation project as per the instruction of the PMO, but Md Abdul Latif, public health official in Hakimpur, said he is unaware about the projects.
In December last year, the UNO office organised a training programme for the indigenous people at his office complex.
Training was to be held for 30 days, but it was concluded within seven days and each trainee got Tk 2,400 instead of Tk 3,000, alleged several beneficiaries.
At a press conference on January 10, local social workers alleged that the UNO office spent only 25 percent of the fund.
Besides, the stipend fund of Tk 4.00 lakh meant for indigenous students was never distributed among them.
"My daughter, a Class X student, never got any help from the UNO office. It's really hard for us to manage her schooling cost," said Sunil Orao of Malancha village in Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur.
This correspondent on January 11 visited the office of Hakimpur UNO Md Azharul Islam and wanted to know from him about the projects, he said, "It's a continuous project."
But he failed to show the documents of the project implementation.
"We want that the government carry out an investigation into the allegations of fund misappropriation," said Badal Tigga, former president of Hakimpur Upazila Adivasi Samaj Unnayan Samity.
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