Blacklisted firm
The news carried by The Daily Star and many dailies in Dhaka under similar captions on 16 September 2010 was not a surprise . The people of Bangladesh are used to this type of news in their media. The people of Bangladesh also know it very well that the faces of the godfathers who awarded the contract or preparing for awarding the contract to a blacklisted Firm will never be unveiled in public.
In the countryside of Bangladesh there is a popular identity "Gom-Chor", meaning thief who steals wheat. This identity is mostly held by the UP chairmen and members. But no one knows who are the godfathers. I did not verify the truth of a story told by a chairman known to me. He narrated how and why he was bound to sell major portion of receipt of wheat granted for "food-for-work" programme in his jurisdiction. According to him, when the chairman gets an allotment for such wheat he is supposed to get the wheat allotment cleared right from his TNO to Ministries of Relief & Rehabilitation, Food etc. He starts running right from his TNO to the
Secretariat in Dhaka. He needs to visit Dhaka several times to get the final allotment and clearance of delivery from the government silo. By the time the allotted wheat reaches his office, more than half the wheat is eaten up by his superior offices, bribes and table feedings.
Now, what does he do after receiving the wheat? he sells out a quantity to get back his expenses and rest, may be 50% or less, he distributes among his members and labourers who "work for food". He earns the title of "Gom-Chor" because he sells that portion at dark but the people who have eaten up more than 50% remain clean forever.
I think, before cancelling the contract and call for a re-tender the government should investigate who were the people selecting a blacklisted firm to award contract for such an important national asset.
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