Fire at post office record room ahead of audit

The incident worried depositors and created suspicion among the townspeople as it took place ahead of a visit by a high powered postal team to check accounts.

A postal team is to arrive Saidpur soon. As usual, the date is not announced earlier, sources at Saidpur post office said.

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Some local people claimed that it was an incident of arson done by some dishonest employees to destroy records to hide misappropriation of money from depositors' accounts.

The suspicion grew as misappropriation of crores of Taka were earlier detected in post offices in Nilphamari, Gaibandha and some other northern districts.

But the Saidpur postal authority termed it as a mere accident.

Sources said that some of the employees accused of postal scamp in Nilphamari Head Post Office had earlier worked at saidpur Head Post Office, which also covers Kishoreganj upazila of Nilphamari district and Taraganj upazila of Rangpur district.

As Saidpur is a business centre, there are about 20,000 depositors' accounts with the postal savings bank there.

Transaction of a huge quantity of postal savings certificates also takes place at the Saidpur Head Post Office, sources there said seeking anonymity.

On Saturday, at 12:30 pm, some local people felt the smell of burning paper and smoke coming out of the locked post office building.

Being informed, fire brigade men rushed to the spot. But they could not start operation as the main gate and rooms in the building were locked.

The Officer-in-Charge of Saidpur thana also reached there with a contingent of police.

Saidpur Upazila Nirbahi officer (UNO) Shamsul Alam also rushed there. But the UNO refused to give order to break the lock of the post office as it housed a postal bank.

The fire continued inside the locked office.

After some time, night guard Hasan reached there and unlocked the office. Fire brigade men then brought the fire under control.

Papers contained in many sacks were burnt into ashes, sources said.

It is gathered that the Postmaster of Saidpur Post Office was not at his official residence on the first floor of the building when the fire incident took place. He went to his village home in Gaibandha on Wednesday after office hours. Thursday was holiday for Durga Puja and Friday and Saturday were government holidays.

Postmaster Shamsuzzoha, when contacted, said that 'some waste papers' were burnt in the fire and valuable documents were not damaged.

He also claimed that a chilim (a tube used for taking hemp) was found inside the storeroom. This raises a suspicion that some addicts took hemp outside and threw the chilim along with burning hemp inside the record room through the broken window. The fire might have originated from the burning hemp, he said.

The station officer of Saidpur Fire Brigade, Md Mofidur Rahman, told newsmen that it was a mystery how fire broke out inside the room.

Reazul Islam, Deputy Post Master General (DPMG) of Dinajpur Postal Region, who is also DPMG In-charge of Rangpur Postal Region, visited the spot on Sunday. Niplhamari Police Superintendent Shoeb Ahmed also visited the spot.

A two-member inquiry committee headed by DPGM Reazul Islam has been formed to investigate the matter.