‘A chronicle of corruption’
Dinajpur Municipality earned Tk 151.68 crore since Md Syed Zahangir Alam became the mayor on February 15, 2011.
A good portion of the fund could have been spent for the area's development after disbursing the payments of officials and staffers. The townspeople could have availed better services from the municipality, bringing a positive change in their living standard.
However, the services remained subpar due to corruption and misuse of power by its mayor, alleged 10 former councillors at a press conference at Dinajpur Press Club yesterday. Md Ziaur Rahman Nawshad, a former councillor, read out the keynote paper.
The former councillors claimed that the residents have been suffering from various problems, including horrible road conditions, waste management and lack of maintenance of the drainage system.
Zahangir, a leader of Dinajpur district BNP, who was elected the mayor for the third time in a row, could not bring the entire municipality under an integrated drainage system, they alleged.
The earning of Dinajpur municipality saw a drastic fall because of the corruption, they further alleged. For example, the toll collection revenue from leased markets dropped due to corruption, causing the municipality a loss worth Tk 1 crore.
To implement various projects, the municipality also got a Tk 3.15 crore allocation from Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2017. But mayor Zahangir did not float any tender for the implementation, while allegedly spending Tk 15 lakh of the fund for his own benefit.
The mayor allegedly appointed 162 additional staffers, while having more than 100 staffers under contract. In another instance, Dinajpur municipality earned Tk 1.60 crore by issuing licence of battery-run three-wheelers. But this fund was also misused, claimed the former councillors.
The mayor also authorised the purchase of electric bulbs worth Tk 10 lakh without a valid procedure, while power bills arear amounting to Tk 17 crore is yet to be paid to the Power Development Board, alleged Shawkat Habib Sumon, another former councillor. All the councillors have demanded that the local government investigate their corruption charges.
Contacted, Mayor Zahangir denied all the allegations and said groups with vested interest are out to tarnish his image.
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