UNO, AC Land seek transfer in face of UP chairman's threat

Sharsa upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and assistant commissioner (land) were recently threatened by the men of a union parishad chairman for launching an investigation into his alleged corruption.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer ATM Shariful Islam and Assistant Commissioner (land) Arifuzzaman said they have informed the higher authority of the matter and applied for transfer.
Sources in the upazila administration said, Chairman Kamal Hossain of Lakkhanpur Union Parishad on July 13 received 262 sacks (each contains 50 kilograms) of rice from government food godown to distribute among the VGF cardholders.
Following a complainant filed by locals that the UP chairman had misappropriated 84 sacks of rice, the UNO formed a probe committee headed by the assistant commissioner (land).
As the probe body found a shortage of 84 sacks of VGF rice in the UP office and was preparing to sue the chairman, he returned the same amount of rice on July 13.
Later, locals filed another petition with the upazila administration, alleging that UP Chairman Kamal Hossain had prepared a fake list of poor people to distribute VGF rice. The UNO recently formed a three-member committee headed by the AC land to investigate the matter. Two other committee members are Fisheries Officer Mahbubur Rahman and Project Implementation Officer (PIO) Shahidul Islam.
After a meeting at Sharsa Upazila Parishad office on August 16, the aides of Kamal Hossain asked the UNO to stop investigation against the chairman. They also threatened to break the hands and legs of the AC (land) and the two other members of the probe body.
Refuting the allegation of preparing a fake list of poor people, UP Chairman Kamal Hossain said he was not present at the meeting on August 16.