TIB's corruption survey
I was quite surprised to read the list of the corrupt in the TIB Survey. Not the ones named, but the undoubted 'champion' who once again got away unscathed. This department of the government operates far from the capital, has the largest area under its control and has institutionalised and refined the art of corruption. Yes, it is the Forest Dept.
In the 1980s I took them head-on to try to benefit from the 100,000 trees, bushes, herbs that I had planted since 1976 on my 30 acres of barren hilly land, with my own money and hard work near Chittagong. I was told bluntly “You can plant all you want, but if you try to harvest even one, you have to take our permission”. I refused to comply and between 1987-1992, published nearly a 100 letters in the English press, naming names and ridiculing the laws. Late Bobby Islam's The Morning Sun and all others supported me to the hilt. But all in vain. After threats and attacks on my small family, I have become a 'refugee' in Dhaka since 1993.
Bangladesh's pioneering venture into Agro-Forestry, nominated for the prestigious Swiss Rolex Award for the Environment in 1984, was decimated within 3 months after I was run out of Chittagong. This year the winner won the Corruption Stakes with 79%. Had the Forest Dept been included, it would have been 99.5%. Include them next year, TIB, and see for yourself.
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