Editorial
Corruption in toll collection at Jamuna Bridge
Monitoring should be foolproof
A recent probe conducted by the Bangabandhu Bridge Authority (BBA) has unearthed a den of corruption in its toll collection regime. It has found that the culprits involved in the misappropriation of the toll money are on the staff of the company employed for realising the tolls for the BBA.
The news is disconcerting, for in consequence, it is the bridge authority, or the government, for that matter, that is ultimate loser.
As unravelled through the probe, the records have shown that the company employees involved in the act of embezzlement recorded fewer numbers of vehicles in the register book than had actually crossed the bridge over a certain period of time. In a similar fashion, they also showed heavier vehicles as lighter ones.
Surprisingly, these kinds of crude methods of cheating are easily detectable by the monitoring mechanism in force including the security cameras taking pictures of the vehicles passing. Similarly, the weighing machines can easily tell the heavier vehicles from the lighter ones.
The BBA probe randomly carried out over a period of three months in the last year, unearthed these irregularities from the video footages. So the proofs are incontrovertible.
The probe report has shed light on only a fraction of the irregularities actually taking place. We do not know for how long the evil practice has been going on.
Clearly, responsibility for the failure to check the ongoing pilferage as well as other cases of irregularities devolves on the company engaged by the BBA to realise the tolls from the bridge users. The BBA itself cannot also shrug off its own responsibility in stemming the rot in time. It should mount further investigation to hold those responsible for this scam to account.
The government should give a serious look into the matter and take steps to strengthen monitoring in order to eradicate the corrupt practice and recover the embezzled money.
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