AL leaders feast on it
The allegation of irregularities in a government scheme to provide job to the ultra poor in Gauripur upazila is now being investigated by a committee made up of the same persons who supervised the project.
In June, Gauripur upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) formed the probe body headed by Shahjahan Siraj, upazila agriculture officer, and AM Shahrier Taufiq, livestock officer of Gauripur, to probe the allegation of corruption in the “40-day Job Generation Programme for Vulnerable Groups”.
The other members are Golam Azam, upazila secondary education officer; Rafiqul Islam, social services officer; and Lutfur Rahman, fisheries officer.
The trio supervised the project at the upazila's different unions.
The programme at a cost of Tk 3,37,63,200 started on March 1 at ten unions of the upazila and ended on April 9.
Under the project some 7,034 people were engaged in road construction and repair.
Al Faruque, a local, said nowhere at the ten unions the 40-day project employed people for more than 20 days.
Local ruling party men, who directly interfered in the project, were involved in all sorts of irregularities including stealing project fund under the very nose of the government supervisors, he added.
"We can't accept the same guys [who were entrusted with the scheme] to conduct the probe. It's absolutely ridiculous," said Al Faruque.
Members of the Gauripur Socheton Nagorik Committee, a citizens' platform, also rejected the probe body. They said such investigation would hide truth.
The UNO, Abdullah Al Mamun, said the committee members are all top government officials and would perform their duties honestly.
"Moreover the three probe committee members, who were field-level supervisors during the project's implementation, didn't work in the areas where they are investigating," said Abdullah Al Mamun.
The project came under scrutiny when hundreds of deprived labourers from different areas, including Achintapur, Bangnamari and Maoha, of the upazila brought a number of allegations against the supervisors.
What most angered the labourers were tampering with their daily attendance books, inserting fictitious names, providing jobs for only 20 days and employing less than half the number of people fixed by the project.
Sheikh Mujir Rahman, a labourer who joined the programme in Tatir Paya village, said he worked for 22 days and received wage for 20 days at Tk 120 a day.
His fellow workers Kamal Hossain, Rafiqul Islam, Abdul Kadir said that after 22 days Dewan Md Khasruzzaman Khan Babul, secretary of the Maoha union project and also the general secretary of Maoha union Awami League, asked them to stop the work.
The work never resumed.
The local Awami League leaders masterminded the whole scheme and nobody in the area dared speak a word, the labourers said.
Upazila administration sources said the UNO, upazila project implementation officer (PIO) and field-level supervisors were mere spectators as the ruling party men came up with new ideas to steal the project money.
Probe body member Golam Azam, who was a project supervisor at Gauripur union, said, “We can't say anything about the allegations before the investigation ends.”
Azam, however, admitted that some ruling party men got involved in the project. He declined to say any further.
Another member of the probe committee, Rafiqul Islam who oversaw the project at Moilakanda union, simply refuted the accusations.
Former UNO of Gauripur AFM Alauddin Khan, who headed the project for the entire length, said although he headed the project its function was in the hands of the PIO.
"When the PIO submitted his requirement, he provided me with all necessary proofs. I then disbursed the money on the basis of his proposal. The PIO is officially in charge of the project," said Alauddin.
Abdul Latif, PIO of the work generation programme, said every step of the project was taken following procedure. The government supervisors selected the beneficiaries and also the site of the proposed work and submitted their proposals to the PIO.
"We accordingly issued cheques for the work. If there were any anomalies, an audit would have revealed it," he said.
"The complaints come from people who were not beneficiaries [of the project]. For instance, if we have fund for 500 people against a demand of 5,000, a large number of people would be left aggrieved and unhappy," he said.
Jahangir Hossain, upazila election officer who supervised the project at Bangnamari union, said a few anomalies might have been there in the selection of labourers.
The deprived ultra-poor people also submitted a complaint to Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, minister for food and disaster management, in May. They also held a press conference.
On the alleged corruption, State Minister for Health and Family Affairs Captain (retd) Mozibur Rahman Fakir, also the president of Gauripur AL, said it is not his concern. "If local Awami League leaders are involved with the corruption, you can write about it."
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