Sherpur Correspondent

There have been allegations of embezzlement of VGD cardholders' savings money in Ranishimul Union of Sribardi Upazila of Sherpur.

The beneficiary cardholders complained that 270 beneficiaries in Ranishimul Union have enjoyed the benefits of VGD card rice for the last 2 years.

According to the rules, each cardholder has to make a mandatory deposit of Tk 200 to a maximum of Tk 400 while collecting rice every month.

Viadanga Bazar Agent Banking Asia accepts these savings money. According to the rules, when rice is distributed among the cardholders every month, the responsible officer of Asia Bank is informed by the Union Parishad, and they accept the savings money from the cardholders. But the Chairman of the Union Parishad, Abdul Hamid Sohag, distributed rice at different times without informing the responsible officer of the Bank. At that time, Union Parishad Chairman Abdul Hamid Sohag himself received the savings money from the cardholders.

According to the rules, the cardholders were supposed to deposit their savings money in the bank, but it is alleged that the Union Parishad Chairman did not do so and deposited the money. It is known that the incident came to light when the cardholders went to the Union Parishad on Tuesday, January 21, to withdraw their savings money after the 2-year rice allocation. It is known that the incident was leaked when the representative of Viadanga Agent Banking Asia, Md. Roman Mia, refused to return the savings money without his signature.

By noon, 47 of the cardholders who came to withdraw their savings money submitted savings books to the bank authorities. Later, the bank authorities came to know after calculating the savings in the books. They did not have any signatures on the reverse of Tk 35,470. They expressed their inability to return the money. The situation of the savings books of the remaining cardholders is the same. Tension arose among the locals over this incident. Union Parishad Chairman Abdul Hamid Sohag was not present in the Parishad at that time. When journalists tried to contact him by phone, he did not pick up the phone.

When Agent Banking Asia informed Upazila Women's Affairs Officer Machuma Begum, she said that arrangements will be made to return the savings of the cardholders after discussing with Union Parishad Chairman Abdul Hamid Sohag.

UNO Md. Sheikh Jaber Ahmed said, he was not aware of the matter. He said that if specific complaints are received, action will be taken after investigating.