A leader of Khulna City unit Mohila Awami League has been reportedly pocketing money from maternity allowance intended for extremely poor pregnant women of 6 no ward under Khulna City Corporation (KCC).
The accused, Binu Islam, is the general secretary of 6 no ward Mohila Awami League unit and the president of Jaba Nari Kallayan Samity.
The Khulna Women Affair’s Department asked a list of 50 poor working women in the 6 no ward of Khulna City Corporation from Binu Islam as he is the chief of a organization working for poor women, according to sources.
Binu submitted a list of 50 poor working mothers with their photos to the Women Affairs Department. Nargis Fatema, Deputy Director, Department of Women's Affairs, Khulna, gave final approval on December 1, 2019 without cross checking the list.
Recently, it was discovered that the list submitted by Awami League leader Binu is full of anomalies. A college student named Purnima, resident of Pabla 2 no Keshablal Cross Road, was shown married in the list.
Purnima said: “I am unmarried and work at a non-governmental institution. I don’t know anything about the maternity allowance.”
Her sister Anjana’s photo was used in place of her in the list. Regarding the matter, Anjana Sarkar said: “My husband is an easy bike driver. During Covid-19 crisis, I submitted photos and photocopies of National Identity Card promising to Binu Islam in order to get relief. I think Binu might have used that photo.”
Two sisters Nadira Begum and Nahida Akhter Nadi, residents of BL College Road, have been included in the list despite they have comparatively older children.
Salma Khatun who is not resident of ward no 6 was also enlisted for the Maternity Allowance programme.
The list of irregularities is not finished yet.
The accused Binu Islam took Tk1,000 from each beneficiary in order to open bank accounts, despite the charge being only TK10. Besides, some women are also not getting their due amount.
Under the programme, each working mother gets Tk 800 per month through one’s respective bank account. Instead of getting the allowance each month, every beneficiary is getting their money amounting to TK 9600 annually in line with the government's instruction.
The women have already received the first installment of TK 9,600 through Agrani Bank Daulatpur branch. The allowance recipients will get two more installments.
But many recipients alleged they got only Tk 3000 out of TK9600 of the first installment.
Dalia, one of the recipients, said: “I withdrew Tk 9600 from the bank. When I went outside of the bank, some associates of Binu were waiting there who gave me Tk3000 and took the rest.”
Refuting the allegations, Jaba Nari kallayan Samity President and Mohila Awami League leader Binu Islam, said: “Four names were included in the list wrongly due to busyness . We applied to the deputy director of the Department of Women's Affairs, Khulna on July 15 in order to exclude those four names from the list.”
Each mother including Purnima registered in the list got their first installments amounting to Tk9,600. They will get two more installments, she added.
Regarding the issue, Nargis Fatema, deputy director of Department of Women's Affairs, said: "We have stopped providing allowance to 3 women on the allegations of irregularities. We will also cancel the licence of Jaba Nari Kallyan Samity."