Beans spilled at R&H Hqs

What happened at the Roads and Highways (R & H) headquarters building on Tuesday was a brazen display of armed rivalry between two groups of ruling party elements. They were vying for the control of tender business. They had long been engaged in rent-seeking by way of manipulating tenders invited by the R& H division. The genuine contractors, who participate in these tenders, could get the contracts through these ruling party elements in exchange for a huge sum of toll money.
However, with the new communications minister taking charge followed by cancellation of some tenders called earlier and opting for open bidding in some cases the rent-seeking coteries were hit hard.
Later, shifting of the Dhaka Zone of R&H division to Tejgaon reportedly caused dislocation in the business of vested quarters. So, the shootout of Tuesday was clearly a demonstration of their attempt at resisting the change that threatened their booty-sharing.
There is no reason to doubt that the top echelons of the R& H division were giving indulgence to the monopoly cadres and their associates within and without the
organization.
It may be recalled that the prime minister had on different occasions warned such party cadres or persons flaunting connections to the party against abusing their power under any pretext. Clearly, the PM's directives have been defied.
We hope the incumbent communications minister would give a serious look into the incident and rid the R&H department of those vested coteries for they in cahoots with some corrupt officials have turned this department into their happy hunting ground.