ACC launches enforcement drives across 36 LGED offices

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) launched simultaneous enforcement drives across 36 offices of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) today, including its headquarters, in response to allegations of corruption and irregularities.

The allegations include the use of substandard construction materials in rural road and bridge or culvert projects, failure to maintain work quality, embezzlement of allocated funds through fake or minimal work, and various other misconducts.

The drives began today around 10:00am, according to Atharul Islam, Public Relations Officer of the ACC.

A press release issued by the ACC said that a total of Tk 1,909 crore had been allocated for post-flood rehabilitation in six districts of the Chattogram division—Feni, Noakhali, Cumilla, Lakshmipur, Chattogram, and Brahmanbaria.

Of this, Tk 1,647 crore is funded by the World Bank, while the remaining portion is to be borne by the Government of Bangladesh. However, the ACC received allegations of abnormal pricing of various items even before the project activities officially began.

The complaint noted that the price of each solar street light was set at Tk 72,000, despite the Planning Commission's statement that such lights were unnecessary.

Similarly, although 60 motorcycles were proposed, the Planning Commission instructed the number be reduced to 36.

Moreover, the reported expenses for laptops, computers, and various educational materials were deemed excessively high, particularly the proposed expenditure of Tk 11 lakh for just four laptops, which drew special attention.

Papon Kumar Saha, assistant director of the ACC and head of the raid team at the LGED headquarters, said the ACC team collected relevant project documents during the raid. These documents will be scrutinised and a detailed report will be submitted to the commission.

Meanwhile, The Daily Star's correspondent from Tangail reported that the ACC team led by its' Assistant Director Md Nur Alam raided the district's LGED office and found some irregularities in different works at Kalihati, Madhupur, Bhuiyanpur and Sakhipur upazilas.

Legal steps will be taken after further investigation, Md Nur Alam told journalists after the raid.

In Kurigram, the ACC team raided upazila LGED office, scrutinised different documents and talked to local people.

Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, deputy director of the ACC's Kurigram Integrated District Office, led the drive.

Contacted, Mizanur, however, did not disclose whether they found any irregularities or not.

Information will be disclosed after further investigation, he told The Daily Star.

In Patuakhali, a team from the ACC inspected a road construction site in Dharandi village under the Sadar upazila, following allegations of using substandard materials.

They measured the completed portion of the road and collected samples of construction materials to verify whether they met project specifications.

[Our correspondents from Tangail, Lalmonirhat, and Patuakhali contributed to the report]