Sagar Biswas :
In the wake of widespread allegation about corruption and negligence of Water Development Board officials in constructing embankments of the haors, the authorities concerned have taken step to detect the responsible.
Director General of WDB, Engineer Jahangir Kabir, told The New Nation on Wednesday night that they have launched a departmental inquiry into the allegation of corruption and negligence of the executive engineers in constructing the dams. “Stern action will be taken if anyone is found involved in the corruption. The executive engineer of Sunamganj has been withdrawn for his negligence in duty,” the DG said.
Official sources said the Ministry of Finance had allotted Tk 86 in the haor areas for construction and maintenance of the dams. Of them, Tk 65 crore was given through WDB and the rest Tk 21 crore was given through Food for Work programme. But only 65 per cent of the work was completed by March while Tk 31 crore was paid to the contractors, the sources said.
When asked about the payment to the contractors, the DG said: “We did not spend total allotted money. We had received Tk 20 crore and spent only Tk 9 crore.” He, however, did not elaborate why the total fund was not used even at the advent of rainy season.
Interestingly, the DG also put blame on the shoulder of farmers and local people for the cracks in the dams. “Only in Sunamganj, the dams were cut at 820 points for different reasons. Of them, the locals cut at 510 points. They usually cut the dams for easy movement of the boats and other purposes. We [WDB] seal the passages every year before rainy season. This year, we could not complete the repairing works. So, the weak points were breached due to heavy pressure of water caused by early rain.” It is alleged that the present situation has been created as the WDB engineers and its enlisted contractors did not complete the construction of the dams in many areas in due time. Whereas, the contractors were given work order to complete the works by March 31 and executive engineers were assigned for monitoring the tasks.
Sources said that local farmers this year had cultivated ‘Baro’ paddy in 2, 23,850 hectares of land in the haors of Sunamganj. But 90 per cent of the crops have already been washed away. Besides, the ‘Baro’ corps in the vast wetlands of Sunamganj, Sylhet, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Kishoreganj and Netrokona worth about billions of taka went under deep water pushing the farmers to a helpless situation.
Deputy Commissioner of Sunamganj district Sheikh Rafiqul Islam said that out of 2, 23,082 hectares land [of Sunamganj], the paddy of 1,49, 912 hectares has been washed out due to the flash flood.
“The Anti-Corruption, the Water Resources Ministry, Water Development Board and Sunamganj District Administration have formed separate inquiry committees to find out the anomaly in constructing the dams.”
But contradicting the statement, the WDB DG said “The haors were not inundated for breaching the dams. Rather, the water level was comparatively high this year. The height of the dams on average was 6.5 meters while the water-level was 7.1 meters. We did not see such heavy rain in last 46 years during April month after 1971,” he said.
“There are 2200 kilometers of dam in entire Sylhet division. Of them, there are 1450 kilometers of dam in Sunamganj district. “So far as we know, no crack was developed in the old dams. But the water entered the haors through the weak points [passage cutting by locals] filled with soft mud,” the DG further said. Meanwhile, former Adviser to the caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan has said that the Secretary of Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Shah Kamal should be ashamed of for his remarks about refusing to declare the haor region as distressed area.
“I was the Secretary of same Ministry 22 years ago. I feel ashamed hearing the comments of the Secretary who said that there was no reason to declare the haor region as distressed area when no people died there. It’s a very impractical talk,” he said expressing dissatisfaction.
In the wake of widespread allegation about corruption and negligence of Water Development Board officials in constructing embankments of the haors, the authorities concerned have taken step to detect the responsible.
Director General of WDB, Engineer Jahangir Kabir, told The New Nation on Wednesday night that they have launched a departmental inquiry into the allegation of corruption and negligence of the executive engineers in constructing the dams. “Stern action will be taken if anyone is found involved in the corruption. The executive engineer of Sunamganj has been withdrawn for his negligence in duty,” the DG said.
Official sources said the Ministry of Finance had allotted Tk 86 in the haor areas for construction and maintenance of the dams. Of them, Tk 65 crore was given through WDB and the rest Tk 21 crore was given through Food for Work programme. But only 65 per cent of the work was completed by March while Tk 31 crore was paid to the contractors, the sources said.
When asked about the payment to the contractors, the DG said: “We did not spend total allotted money. We had received Tk 20 crore and spent only Tk 9 crore.” He, however, did not elaborate why the total fund was not used even at the advent of rainy season.
Interestingly, the DG also put blame on the shoulder of farmers and local people for the cracks in the dams. “Only in Sunamganj, the dams were cut at 820 points for different reasons. Of them, the locals cut at 510 points. They usually cut the dams for easy movement of the boats and other purposes. We [WDB] seal the passages every year before rainy season. This year, we could not complete the repairing works. So, the weak points were breached due to heavy pressure of water caused by early rain.” It is alleged that the present situation has been created as the WDB engineers and its enlisted contractors did not complete the construction of the dams in many areas in due time. Whereas, the contractors were given work order to complete the works by March 31 and executive engineers were assigned for monitoring the tasks.
Sources said that local farmers this year had cultivated ‘Baro’ paddy in 2, 23,850 hectares of land in the haors of Sunamganj. But 90 per cent of the crops have already been washed away. Besides, the ‘Baro’ corps in the vast wetlands of Sunamganj, Sylhet, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Kishoreganj and Netrokona worth about billions of taka went under deep water pushing the farmers to a helpless situation.
Deputy Commissioner of Sunamganj district Sheikh Rafiqul Islam said that out of 2, 23,082 hectares land [of Sunamganj], the paddy of 1,49, 912 hectares has been washed out due to the flash flood.
“The Anti-Corruption, the Water Resources Ministry, Water Development Board and Sunamganj District Administration have formed separate inquiry committees to find out the anomaly in constructing the dams.”
But contradicting the statement, the WDB DG said “The haors were not inundated for breaching the dams. Rather, the water level was comparatively high this year. The height of the dams on average was 6.5 meters while the water-level was 7.1 meters. We did not see such heavy rain in last 46 years during April month after 1971,” he said.
“There are 2200 kilometers of dam in entire Sylhet division. Of them, there are 1450 kilometers of dam in Sunamganj district. “So far as we know, no crack was developed in the old dams. But the water entered the haors through the weak points [passage cutting by locals] filled with soft mud,” the DG further said. Meanwhile, former Adviser to the caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan has said that the Secretary of Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Shah Kamal should be ashamed of for his remarks about refusing to declare the haor region as distressed area.
“I was the Secretary of same Ministry 22 years ago. I feel ashamed hearing the comments of the Secretary who said that there was no reason to declare the haor region as distressed area when no people died there. It’s a very impractical talk,” he said expressing dissatisfaction.
