Team to probe graft charges against Barisal mayor

A section of BCC officials and workers staged protests against Ahsan Habib Kamal’s alleged corruption

A seven-member inquiry team of the local government ministry launched a field-level investigation into the allegations of corruption and misuse of power against Barisal mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal recently. The team, led by the ministry’s additional secretary Sourendra Nath Chakrabarty, met senior officials at the Barisal City Corporation (BCC) conference room  and interviewed the departmental chief, workers, union leaders, and officers.
At that time, a section of BCC officials and workers staged protests against Ahsan Habib Kamal’s alleged corruption.
The ministry had received complaints that in violation of the employment rules, the BCC mayor had appointed EXEN MA Motaleb, a diploma holder, as superintendent engineer. Furthermore, assistant engineer Kazi Monirul Islam has been put in charge of EXEN water supply and assistant engineer Lusfar Rahman in charge of EXEN engineering. The mayor has also promoted sub-assistant engineer Arifur Rahman to assistant engineer, and Ahsan Habib, a work assistant, to sub-assistant engineer. All these persons hold only diplomas each.
According to the Bangladesh Gazette published on September 13, 2010, these positions can only be filled by engineers with B.Sc. degrees. But here the law has been violated, and many B.Sc. engineers have been deprived of job opportunities.
It has also been alleged that the mayor recently accepted a huge amount of black money for allocating tenders worth over Tk. 80 crore for a Tk. 208 crore project.
Salaries of 1,400 staff members, officials, and permanent and muster roll employees are overdue since the past five months and amount to over Tk. 10 crore.  The Barisal electricity supply department has disconnected 13 water pumps and street-lights to recover outstanding bills amounting to Tk. 22 crore.
The local office of the West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC) has cut off the electricity connections of the Jaguya and Bothtola pump houses and street light connections near the Kalizia and Rupatoli bus stand areas. Last Friday, it also cut off the electricity supply to Batun Bazar and Kawnia BISIC water pump houses and street-light connections of Natun Bazar Police Fari, Kawnia BASIC, and BM College Road. As a result, local residents are in darkness in the streets and are reeling under a water crisis. Tarukul Islam and Amzad Hossain, both EXENs of WZPDC Barisal Zone 1 and 2, said over Tk. 22 crore of electricity bills of the BCC are outstanding over the last few years. The amount of due bills is increasing day by day. WZPDC has reminded BCC again and again, but having no response from it, it finally had to take the decision to cut off the 43 connections of BCC one by one. At the same time, employees and officials have not been getting their salaries and wages for the last five months. All sorts of irregularities are being alleged against the office. Fearing termination, no employee has spoken up in this regard.
Ahsan Habib Kamal said to The Independent recently that four months of salaries of the employees were due from earlier. BCC is however facing a serious monetary crisis in recent times, he added. An atmosphere of frustration is prevailing almost everywhere in the corporation due to the same reason. Kamal said that the BCC has outstanding taxes of over Tk. 20 crore, which will be recovered within a short time. He added that the WZPDC has not paid holding and light-post taxes amounting to over Tk. 10 crore to the BCC for a long time.
The dues will be adjusted in the immediate future, he added. Answering a question on the recent promotions, the mayor claimed that all appointments have followed the rules of BCC.
About the inquiry by the local government ministry team, Kamal asserted that it was a regular and routine process.  On the other hand, Sourendra Nath Chakrabarty, who is the head of the investigating team, said they were trying to uncover the facts of the allegations following instructions from the government.
Ahsan Habib Kamal took charge as the mayor of BCC on October 8, 2013, 128 days after the third BCC election, held on June 15, 2013. The BCC then had a debt liability of Tk. 143 crore.

 

Team to probe graft charges against Barisal mayor

A section of BCC officials and workers staged protests against Ahsan Habib Kamals alleged corruption

A seven-member inquiry team of the local government ministry launched a field-level investigation into the allegations of corruption and misuse of power against Barisal mayor Ahsan Habib Kamal recently. The team, led by the ministrys additional secretary Sourendra Nath Chakrabarty, met senior officials at the Barisal City Corporation (BCC) conference room and interviewed the departmental chief, workers, union leaders, and officers. At that time, a section of BCC officials and workers staged protests against Ahsan Habib Kamals alleged corruption. The ministry had received complaints that in violation of the employment rules, the BCC mayor had appointed EXEN MA Motaleb, a diploma holder, as superintendent engineer. Furthermore, assistant engineer Kazi Monirul Islam has been put in charge of EXEN water supply and assistant engineer Lusfar Rahman in charge of EXEN engineering. The mayor has also promoted sub-assistant engineer Arifur Rahman to assistant engineer, and Ahsan Habib, a work assistant, to sub-assistant engineer. All these persons hold only diplomas each. According to the Bangladesh Gazette published on September 13, 2010, these positions can only be filled by engineers with B.Sc. degrees. But here the law has been violated, and many B.Sc. engineers have been deprived of job opportunities. It has also been alleged that the mayor recently accepted a huge amount of black money for allocating tenders worth over Tk. 80 crore for a Tk. 208 crore project. Salaries of 1,400 staff members, officials, and permanent and muster roll employees are overdue since the past five months and amount to over Tk. 10 crore. The Barisal electricity supply department has disconnected 13 water pumps and street-lights to recover outstanding bills amounting to Tk. 22 crore. The local office of the West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC) has cut off the electricity connections of the Jaguya and Bothtola pump houses and street light connections near the Kalizia and Rupatoli bus stand areas. Last Friday, it also cut off the electricity supply to Batun Bazar and Kawnia BISIC water pump houses and street-light connections of Natun Bazar Police Fari, Kawnia BASIC, and BM College Road. As a result, local residents are in darkness in the streets and are reeling under a water crisis. Tarukul Islam and Amzad Hossain, both EXENs of WZPDC Barisal Zone 1 and 2, said over Tk. 22 crore of electricity bills of the BCC are outstanding over the last few years. The amount of due bills is increasing day by day. WZPDC has reminded BCC again and again, but having no response from it, it finally had to take the decision to cut off the 43 connections of BCC one by one. At the same time, employees and officials have not been getting their salaries and wages for the last five months. All sorts of irregularities are being alleged against the office. Fearing termination, no employee has spoken up in this regard. Ahsan Habib Kamal said to The Independent recently that four months of salaries of the employees were due from earlier. BCC is however facing a serious monetary crisis in recent times, he added. An atmosphere of frustration is prevailing almost everywhere in the corporation due to the same reason. Kamal said that the BCC has outstanding taxes of over Tk. 20 crore, which will be recovered within a short time. He added that the WZPDC has not paid holding and light-post taxes amounting to over Tk. 10 crore to the BCC for a long time. The dues will be adjusted in the immediate future, he added. Answering a question on the recent promotions, the mayor claimed that all appointments have followed the rules of BCC. About the inquiry by the local government ministry team, Kamal asserted that it was a regular and routine process. On the other hand, Sourendra Nath Chakrabarty, who is the head of the investigating team, said they were trying to uncover the facts of the allegations following instructions from the government. Ahsan Habib Kamal took charge as the mayor of BCC on October 8, 2013, 128 days after the third BCC election, held on June 15, 2013. The BCC then had a debt liability of Tk. 143 crore.