Allegations of corruption have been made against two senior officials of Gopalganj health administration for misappropriating state funds allocated for the recently held Vitamin A Plus campaign.
Health workers of the district have alleged that although Tk22 lakh was allocated for the government vaccination campaign in Gopalganj, more than Tk12 lakh, reserved for workers’ honorarium, food, additional vaccination centres and public announcements, was gobbled up by Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Chowdhury Shafiqul Alam and EPI Medical Technician Nahid Kamal during the campaign.
“Funds were allocated for making announcements for the campaign in 21 upazilas of the district twice, but only two loudspeakers were used to make announcements in Gopalganj district and its adjourning areas. The two corrupt officials also presented fake vouchers, worth Tk75,000, for each village,” said Assistant Health Inspector Mossadek Hossain Musa.
Health workers also alleged that there were 504 vaccination centres in the Sadar upazila, but 46 fake centres were shown by the respective officials to siphon some Tk3 lakh out of the fund.
They also said after submitting a written complaint against these two officials, a vested quarter involved with the corruption have been pressuring and threatening them to withdraw their statement.
When asked, EPI Medical Technician Nahid Kamal said: “The honorariums were paid after receiving double signatures of the health workers and the payment was made in two phases. The allocation for food may have varied a bit, but there was no irregularity in any other sector.”
Meanwhile, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Chowdhury Shafiqul Alam brushed off the allegation saying that no corruption took place during the campaign.
Urging the administration to probe the allegations against me, he also claimed that he personally never pressurised or tried to negotiate with the protesters to drop the allegations.
