Plague of institutionalised corruption

The Pabna Zila Parishad's criminal mismanagement of funds is representative of most government projects where huge sums of taxpayers' money are spent, but no substance is produced. Official documents, for example, falsely show an expense of Tk 8 lakh on a brand new sound system that was never set up. They also show a tree-plantation project worth Tk 5 lakh at a university which only had two trees planted on campus. And, of course, there are countless other such examples to draw from.

But what all this shows is that the level of corruption infesting in these institutions is simply beyond belief. According to reports, local Awami League men and people close to the zila parishad administrator, for instance, were awarded development work without tenders in most cases which, of course, paves the way for such corruption. And what it also does is turn state institutions into rackets serving select individuals at the expense of the general public. They are not only forced to fill up the coffers of these shameless individuals through taxes with their hard earned money, but are then denied the benefit of their money being used for productive purposes.

Is this any way of building a nation? The story, however, does not end there; large chunks of money constantly go missing even from development funds meant to build schools for young children.

As long as the administration continues to turn a blind eye to such corruption simply because ruling party men and powerful individuals are involved in it, this plague will continue to be a deadweight impeding the country's move forward. We call on the authorities to punish these corrupt individuals exemplarily.