Tk 10.67cr WDB work grabbed by ruling party men

The incident was detected when Gaibandha Pourashava chairman Anwarul Hasan Sabur, also an enlisted contractor of the Water Development Board (WDB) lodged a complaint with the WDB chief engineer to this effect.

The WDB allocated Tk 10 crore 67 lakh under eight projects to combat river erosion.

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Gaibandha WDB called Tk 10 crore tender in seven groups to combat Brahmaputra erosion in Baguria of Gaibandha Sadar upazila, Sayedpur, Kanchipara and Balashi in Fuchari upazila on March 8, 2006.

Many WDB enlisted contractors of Rajshahi, Sirajganj and Rangpur tried to submit bids by 10 to 15 per cent less than the estimated cost. But the ruling party men prevented them from dropping tenders. They allegedly captured the tender bids by 5.99 per cent above the estimated rate by influencing the WDB engineer and distributed the project work among themselves.

As a result, the government has incurred a loss by 16 to 20 per cent.

The complainant forwarded copies of his allegation to Prime Minister, Ministry of Home, Ministry of Water Resource and Anti-corruption Commission for proper investigation.