Akhaura-Laksham Rail Project: Ministry removes project director, three months after PMO directive

The railways ministry has changed the project director of the Akhaura-Laksham Dual Gauge Double Line Project.

Signed by a deputy secretary on Thursday, the ministry released a circular in this regard yesterday.

The move came more than over three months after the Prime Minister's Office directed the railways ministry to remove existing director Ramzan Ali after a corruption case was filed against him. Ramzan Ali denied the allegations.

Shahidul Islam, joint director general (engineering), will now take charge of the important project of Bangladesh Railway (BR), according to the circular.

The circular, however, did not mention any specific reason behind the change, rather said the order would come into action immediately for public interest. It did not mention what would be the new post of Ramzan Ali either.

In August, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed two separate cases against Ramzan Ali and his wife Dilruba Parvin Elora for allegedly amassing around Tk 4.28 crore beyond their known sources of income.

Ramzan was project director of the Khulna-Mongla Rail Link Project before he was given charge of the "Construction of Dual Gauge Double Line and Conversion of Existing Rail Line into Dual Gauge Between Akhaura-Laksham", a few months ago.

Earlier, he served as chief engineer (west) of BR.

In the corruption case filed by ACC's Deputy Director Abu Bakar Siddiqui on August 16, Ramzan was mentioned as project director of the Khulna-Mongla Rail Link Project.

Railway sources said the PMO asked the railways ministry to remove him from the project in the last week of September.

Following the directives, the railways ministry in mid-October sent a letter to the Director General of BR asking him to submit a proposal for appointing a new project director for the Akhaura-Laksham project.

BR is implementing the Akhaura-Laksham Project at a cost of Tk 6,504.54 crore under an Asian Development Bank loan while the Tk 3,801.61 crore Khulna-Mongla Rail Link Project is being implemented under Indian Lines of Credit.

When The Daily Star ran a report on October 20 over the railways ministry's directive to change the project director, Ramzan Ali had sent a rejoinder claiming that some people were conspiring against him and he was not involved with any corruption.