IGP cancels Germany trip amid uproar
IGP Benazir Ahmed has cancelled his trip to Germany planned for this month amid a controversy over the visit regarding "procurement of one lakh pieces of bedsheets and pillow covers for the force".
Md Kamruzzaman, assistant inspector general of police at the Police Headquarters, said this to The Daily Star yesterday.
"We wrote to the home ministry on Monday seeking cancellation of the government order [GO] as it mentioned pre-shipment inspection of bedsheets and pillow covers as the reason for the trip," he said.
On Wednesday, the PHQ in a press release sought to clarify the reason for the cancellation, but did not mention about its letter to the home ministry.
The release said false and misleading information was spread on social media recently stating that the inspector general of police would visit Germany to buy one lakh bedsheets from there for the police force.
"A quarter is trying to tarnish the image of the police force by spreading rumors on social media intentionally due to an inadvertent linguistic confusion created by the home ministry's order," it added.
On February 7, the ministry issued the order sanctioning a nine-day visit to Germany anytime between February 2 and 28.
According to the order, the delegation would visit the European country to "participate in the Factory Acceptance Test [FAT]" relating to shipment of one lakh pieces of bedsheets with pillow covers (double).
The order drew criticism from different quarters.
Earlier, AIG Kamruzzaman had said the delegation, led by the IGP, was to visit Germany to assess the dye to be used in the bedsheets and pillow covers which would be produced locally.
As per the tender specification, the local company has to use quality dye from a European country and a team will travel there to assess the quality of that dye, he said.
"Since it involves a huge amount of money, the IGP sir himself will visit Germany to assess the quality," he told The Daily Star previously.
The PHQ release said in fact police are not buying bedsheets with pillow covers from Germany which does not produce and export bedsheets. It is rather a country of heavy industries.
Stating that the IGP has no reason for going to Germany to buy bedsheets and pillow covers, the release said as per the Public Procurement Rules a government procurement official cannot purchase or collect public goods like personal items visiting any market or country. There is a government procurement process in this regard, it said.
The statement said Bangladesh Police always purchase bedsheets and pillow covers made by local manufacturers through local tenders. This year too, the police have taken steps to buy bedsheets and pillow covers made in Bangladesh through local tenders.