Chairman and members of Kushla Union Parishad (UP) of Gopalganj’s Kotalipara upazila have been accused of misappropriating senior citizens' allowances by showing dead persons as alive.
Social welfare officer of Kotalipara upazila Subhash Chandra Chowdhury revealed the information yesterday following an investigation.
He said a complaint was lodged about a month ago accusing UP member Zakaria Sheikh and Chairman Samsul Haq Hawlader of withdrawing old-age allowances of people who passed away.
According to the complaint, Mia Molla of Chourkhuli village of the union died on April 5, 2013. But UP member Zakaria Sheikh withdrew the old-age allowance of Mia Molla by showing him alive. In the same way, old-age allowances of Ensan Uddin, Jochhona Mitra, Moiful Bibi and Shubhashini Dutta were collected with the support of Chairman Shamsul Haq.
“An investigation was subsequently launched and we have found proof of the involvement of the UP member and the chairman. I have already sent the report to the senior authorities,” Shubhash Chandra said.
Manager of Kotaliapara branch of Agrani Bank, which is responsible for disbursing the allowance, Mohammad Nurul Islam said: “After being informed about the matter, I checked the allowance books and found that the perpetrators tampered with the books and changed the photos of the beneficiaries.”
However, when contacted, UP Chairman Shamsul Haq claimed that he was unaware of the matter and was not involved in any way.