Man dreams up committee and usurps entire fund for road repair

Rural road maintenance under the Test Relief (TR) and Cash for Work (CFW) programmes in Shariatpur Sadar upazila has largely been misappropriated through the formation of fake Project Implementation Committees (PICs). To receive the fund for the maintenance works, one needs to form a five-member PIC, picking the members from among the beneficiaries, and get approval for completion of the works. However, our Shariatpur Correspondent in an investigation has found out that most of the maintenance works and the PICs that were formed to oversee the works had no existence in reality. One such PIC could be traced at the Nilkandi village under Shariatpur municipality. One Nirmal Das included the names of his families and friends in the PIC without their knowledge. Nirmal's father Giren Das was surprised to hear that he was made the general secretary of a committee to oversee the maintenance works of a road in his locality. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” said the sexagenarian when he was shown a document of the PIC containing his photo and signature. The sexagenarian was not even aware his son had got the contract for the work under the Test Relief (TR) programme for TK40,000. Nirmal also included Bimal Das, one of his cousins, as a member of the committee, but Bimal also denied having any idea about the project. “What I recall is Nirmal took my photo from me some days ago,” said Bimal. Nirmal has already withdrawn the sum, but the road remains as it has been before. On paper, the 100-metre tar road from Bahar Ali Mosque to Das Bari in the village was repaired with the TR money, but in reality no one in the village has witnessed any such works being carried out. Nirmal, however, confidently stood by his claim that the work was actually done. “It is the PIO Office (Project Implementation Office) which is to decide if I have completed the work or not. Do you think I would have been paid if I didn't work,” said Nirmal. Nirmal is said to have some influence in the locality for his political connections. He drives the car of a close associate of Awami League Organising Secretary and Shariatpur-1 MP BM Mozammel Haque, who had approved the fund for the maintenance work. The MP had approved a similar 384 projects under the TR programme and 39 projects under the Cash for Works (CFW) programme under his jurisdiction (Shariatpur Sadar and Jajira upazilas), to be completed by June this year. A total of TK 2.37crore was allocated for these projects and most of the fund was disbursed on completion of the works, according to local government sources. However, there has been widespread allegations that majority of the maintenance work that were shown on paper was invisible in reality, and that close associates of the MP had misappropriated the money in the name of completing such imaginary works. In a notice issued on May 16 this year, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Aorunendra Kishor Chakraborty asked the Upazila Nirbahi Officer to investigate if the rural infrastructure maintenance projects taken under the TR and CFW programmes existed in reality, and if those were necessary. This correspondent also visited some of the said project sites and found out that no work had really been done in most cases. Residents of Tulasar, Binodpur and Chikandi unions cannot recall any maintenance work on the rural roads being carried out in the last six months, although the TR and CFW funds for such projects have been disbursed. Shariatpur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Ziaur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that they had already sent letters to the presidents of some PICs who had received the money without completion of the maintenance work. Contacted over phone, MP BM Mozammel Haq said: “I do give approval to different projects for the development of my area. But I do not know much about the allegations.”